Not disagreeing, we all travel our own path and there's a lot of ways to do it right.
That's what we discuss at meetings- the 12 steps and how we did them. What it was like, what happened, and what it's like now. A big part of "what happened" is working the steps, the struggles we had and how we got past them. Some people can work the steps right out of the book, but some (like me) do better listening to others at meetings.
Bottom line, it's not just about not drinking. It's about being happy about not drinking. Meetings is where I learned how to do that, and to work the steps.
And for me, a huge part of early recovery was having an alternative to the bars just for spending time. That meant a lot of meetings, meetings before the meetings, and meetings after the meetings. "Meetings before" were generally dinner, and the "meetings after" were generally pie and coffee. We also had sports teams, camping groups, biking groups, movie groups, (almost) monthly citywide or statewide get togethers, and weekend retreats (similar to the Pattaya Roundup). That's where I got to see people actually living the principles we talk about in the meetings. Warts and all, because there's always life getting in the way when a bunch of people get together.