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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
  Re: Donation ("Greg 'groggy' Lehey")
  HBD Status, hosting alternatives et al. (Patrick Babcock)


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*   Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy!   *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

NOTE: With the economy as it is, the HBD is struggling to 
meet its meager operating expenses of approximately $3500
per year. If less than half of those currently directly
subscribed to the HBD sent in a mere $5.00, the HBD would
be able to easily meet its annual expenses, with room to 
spare for next year. Please consider it.

Financial Projection As of 21 May 2010
       Projected 2010 Budget  $3505.65
 Expended against projection  $ 892.11
Projected Excess/(Shortfall) ($1395.93)

As always, donors and donations are publicly acknowledged
and accounted for on the HBD web page. Thank you

 
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JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning,
                  and Spencer Thomas



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Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2010 14:01:21 +1000
From: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog at lemis.com>
Subject: Re: Donation

On Tuesday,  1 June 2010 at  7:41:13 -0400, Steve Jones wrote:
> I've made my donation.
>
> But isn't there a way we can continue all this with a different
> hosting paradigm? $3500 or so per year is a lot to provide what has
> basically become an archive of information.

Indeed.  I've offered Pat free (or possibly just very cheap) hosting,
but he prefers to do it himself.  That's certainly his prerogative,
but it does sound a very expensive alternative.

> With all the hosting services out there I don't see a need to
> maintain our own server and t1 connection any longer. I realize that
> there are many more pieces to the puzzle than hbd, bnv, recipator,
> etc. but we should be able to come up with some way to provide
> 80-90% of the same services with only 10-20% of the cost.
>
> But it will take someone more creative than I to come up with it.

I'm still there, and I'm still prepared to help.  But I don't want to
push Pat where he doesn't want to go.

Greg
- --
Finger grog at FreeBSD.org for PGP public key.
See complete headers for address and phone numbers.


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Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2010 15:36:43 -0400
From: Patrick Babcock <patrick.babcock at gmail.com>
Subject: HBD Status, hosting alternatives et al.

Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager...

My sincere thanks to all who have come forward to assist the HBD
financially. Reading all the comments helps to settle the relevance of
what we're doing, too..

Concerning the hosting of the HBD and the associated expense: These
comments, too, are appreciated - as I commented recently to Spencer, I
often toy with the idea of moving the whole ball of wax off-site so
that, perhaps, I can slip under the waves and let someone else
dog-paddle behind this particular raft. However... (there's always a
"however".)

The HBD is more than just a mailing list or archive - more than what
most users see. Most who use the HBD mailing list are unaware that
there are other functions/services running behind and alongside it.
Also true: most who use the other portions of the network are unaware
of the mailing list, etc. In any case, for what the HBD is and does,
suffice it to say that most low-costs hosts will not contain the
bandwidth without jacking up their charges. The higher-cost hosts
which can and will contain the bandwidth become cost comparative when
the number of machines and domains that make up Home Brew Digest, Inc.
are tossed in.  There is also a significant non-beer related
charitable organization hosted by the HBD (and, yes: they, too come to
the pump when the HBD is in financial need. Over the past several
years, their members' donations to the server have helped to keep us
afloat as well.)

Yes, these things could ostensibly be separated and sent off-site
separating their fiscal failures or fortunes - but the cost would be
significantly higher as separately hosted solutions. All have some
value to the community, and most would not survive on their own.

Also, as some of the "gray beards" among us may remember, when I first
took the HBD on, we were hosted for free by the Observer & Eccentric
Newspapers (for which we remain eternally grateful!). As such, my
ability to wrest the system out of the grip of hackers (of which there
have been myriad), hardware failures (also myriad), software failures
(ditto, but more readily contained remotely) was hampered by the fact
that I hold a 40-hours-plus-per-week career, and the data center at
which the HBD lived (10 miles from home, 12 miles from work) at the
time was not open 24x7. Granted, hardware and linux distributions have
come a long, long way since then but, frankly, I never want to relive
those days. It was a hell of an education - the best way to learn
something is while in a panic with little time available - but it was 
like surgery without anesthesia, too.

Again, I appreciate these comments; however, I'm also not some wizened
hermit living in isolation. I am aware - keenly aware - of the land-
scape. It simply does not make fiscal sense to cast off the mooring 
lines at present as an operation.

And to all of those who have rushed in to fill the financial void:
thank you! It's like a reunion: I see many, many familiar names in the
group of donors, but the family is growing: I see many new names as 
well. Note that updates to the site come few and far between at 
present (because my 40-hours-plus-per-week career is closer to a 90-
hours-per week career of late), but I am still committed to updating 
the financial and donor pages to ensure you're kept abreast of the 
situation, and that all donors are acknowledged. (If they'd only pay
me for the additional 50 hours per week, HBD finances wouldn't be at 
issue...)

Thanks again.

Pat Babcock
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
HBD, Inc.


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