I'm glad this 2 year old post with it's quote was resurrected. It reminds me of the benefits of putting not only my addiction behind me, but also putting my recovery behind me as well. I did that at a time before digital social media and the online information explosion.
I think today, the consequences of which choice (from the quote) is made are more profound. And those consequences revolve around the "stigma" of "being an alcoholic", either "actively drinking" or "a forever recovering alcoholic". Notice there are twice as many "thanks" noted for the original post now, than there were almost two years ago.
I believe there is good reason to avoid being stigmatized in regards to addiction for almost any reason. I say almost because I think Jack Trimpey is a unique exception. His being stigmatized as self proclaimed "Phormer Drunk" (he got a PhD in drinking) is to his and others' benefit. But people like him don't come along very often that have been able to change the spectrum of articulated programs of recovery to any significant degree in the English speaking world.
Here's a link to an interesting article about stigma and alcoholism.
Stigma on Alcoholism: A Modest Proposal | Points: The Blog of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society
On the positive side of the online information explosion, we have this SR Forums site where we can create what I'd call a "stigma firewall". We can learn a lot about recovery and express what we choose about ourselves while still remaining quite anonymous
(except to the National Security Agency because they collect everything including source addresses).