As promised, I have spent some quality time alone with The Recipator code and the html error logs on the VPS. In this continuing saga of me vs. The Recipator, I’ve now found that the entire user model under which it is written is incompatible with the enforced (ie: I can’t change it) security model of our new host. (For those who, for years, chided me that a VPS was where the HBD belonged: told ya so!)

It will be a while longer as I now have to find a way around this problem, and then recompile the code. Bear with – I’m learning a lot about the structure of The Recipator (this is a good thing!) and I AM working to make y’all whole again.

Cheers!
Pat Babcock
Chief of Janitorial Services
HBD, Inc.

OK. Got THAT straightened up. Still no idea what caused the theme to collapse like that, but at least I know how to fix it in the future!

Cheers!
Pat Babcock
Chief of Janitorial Services
HBD, Inc.

Well, now. I thought it was on my computers, but it seems something has gone wonky with the HBD.org site. Will see what there is to see, and do what there is to do to make it whole again. In the meantime: bear with – the menus are at the bottom of the page…

On a happier note, I think I have figured The Recipator out, and should be able to bring it back online shortly. Lots of editing to do…

Cheers!
Pat Babcock
Chief of Janitorial Services
HBD, Inc.

While monkeying around with the list server provided by our new host, I noticed that the response it sends to a poster includes the ability to cancel said post. This feature is similar to the “cancellize” feature that was contained within the old HBD scripts, and part of the reason why there was always minimal hostility and a high information-to-detritus ratio on the old ‘gest.

I don’t know that I can implement the same “deadman switch” moderation as the Digest had; however, since it allows the posters to cancel their post before publication, I think that’s enough to make me willing to use this system to serve as a new HBD mailing list server. Not that I expect it to roar back to life again, but I still field subscription requests now and again, so it may still have some value as a tool in the online homebrewing community.

It will, of course, still be a once-daily mailing as, without such a throttle, it has been proven to quickly get out of hand (not to mention that there is no way to moderate it in “real time,” anyway…). I will keep you posted through this site as things develop!

Cheers!
Pat Babcock
Chief of Janitorial Services
HBD, Inc.

The g-zipped ftp-connected archives are back online. ftp://hbd.org will take you there. I kept the same structure pretty much as was on the old server – digests are stored in annual folders, and the path is pub-hbd->digests->{Year of interest}. I did make one change for “presentation:” I added a hyphen to the start of the index files names so that they always appear at the top of the list.

Enjoy!

Pat Babcock
Chief of Janitorial Services
HBD, Inc.

Well, some of the graphics are missing yet, but, for all practical purposes: the HBD HTML Archive is online for your viewing pleasure. See
Site Features to the left (below our begging)…

Pat Babcock
Chief of Janitorial Services
HBD, Inc.

Still plugging away at The Recipator. Turned out to be a little more than I had initially expected when I set out to do make it compatible with the new site. Still plugging away at it (when not at work, fixing toilets – what’s up with all the dag-nabbit toilets lately?! – or other stuff around the house, and doing other HBD janitorial and family husband, son, and dad kinda things). It will yield to my programming prowess. Eventually…

Pat Babcock
Chief of Janitorial Services
HBD, Inc.

Well, Brews And Views is online! Note that, even if you were a Brews And Views user on the old system, you will need to register on the new. There will be many tweaks and improvements made as we go along, but I saw nothing to keep us from going live today!

Now: The Recipator…

Pat Babcock
Chief Janitor
Home Brew Digest, Inc.

Greetings, Beerlings! Take me to your lager…

Getting a lot of questions and concerns related to the Recipator and the Brews And Views Bulletin Board.

Rest assured: BOTH will return.

The Recipator, written by Mark Riley circa 1998 or so is a suite of compiled c programs. Mark is incommunicado, but I did locate a cache of his source files from various instantiations of his great program. My c experience was about 30 years ago, but I think I can muddle my way through modifying the source code and compiling the suite for its new home without having to go back to school. It should be back with all of its data and in all its former glory shortly. I would like to give you a better ETA than “shortly”, but see that stuff about how long it’s been since I even looked at c…

Brews And Views is another story. The old Discus platform is WAY out of date – so much so that I have been unable to port the old system to the new vBulletin system without really screwing up the vBulletin. Therefore, the new Brews And Views will require its user to join as new users when it comes on line. As for the discus Brews And Views system, I am working out just how to bring its archives online on the new server. I hope to do this without having to port the discus mess onto the new box, but that may be an option. The new vBulletin Brews And Views system should be up shortly – though there will likely be bazillions of tweaks and enhancements made after it goes online.

So fret not, Beerlings! Everything but the mailing list will be back here before too much longer.

Oh: and if you had a club, a “preserve” site, or a mailing list on the old box, be sure to contact me to have them reinstated or to get access to those already back online.

Cheers!

The Home Brew Digest Janitorial Staff
janitor at hbd dot org

Welcome to the new home of the Home Brew Digest!

Now that I’m “back from the wars,” I have been busy cutting loose from the expensive Comcast instantiation of the HBD.org network and moving it onto its new VPS-based home.

As part of this move, and recognizing that overnight email lists are no longer pertinent in this “instant info” world we live in today, the mailing list itself has been discontinued – this, in part, due to what I’d been saying for years now: you don’t generally get root access on a VPS. I had it here when I first signed on to Dreamhost, but they recently revoked it from everyone due to some unscrupulous snoopsters visiting other VPS-hosted sites on their server.  (Can’t win for losing…) In any case, the full HBD archives will be housed here in both HTML-viewable and gzipped-downloadable formats.

Archives from the long-defunct Vintners, Cheese, Kombucha, etc. mailing lists will be moved to this server as well. I have also reactivated all of the club mailing lists I was aware were still active. If you are a club list admin and either your list is reactivated, but you need access to it, or your list is missing: pop me an email, and I’ll fix you right up.

Brews and Views will be back on a new, modern platform. Unfortunately, due primarily to the age of the Discus platform, this means that B&V will start afresh. Fortunately, this new platform is mobile-friendly, so life will be better for all of the participants! I am working on archiving the posts from the old B&V instantiation in a format that will prevent me from having to move the Discus platform to the VPS as well.

The Brewery, for the most part, is back in service, shy a billion link corrections that have to be made since I moved it off of the HBD.org domain and onto its own brewery.org domain. Recipator will be back as well on Recipator.com.

Lastly, I will be moving the content from the Club and Preserve pages, and other HBD content, which will be made accessible from this page.

Don’t think I forgot anything. Pop me a comment if I did.

Note that the HBD is still a 501(c)3 corporation, and still needs both funds to operate, and funds to dig it out of the financial hole it finds itself in since about 2015.  If you care to, please consider sending a donation to the HBD Server Fund either via Paypal to serverfund at hbd.org (you know how to convert that to a working email address…), or via check or money order mailed to

HBD Server Fund
2478 Cabot St
Canton, MI 48188

Cheers!
Pat “The Janitor” Babcock