May 22, 2024 - 3:09pm
Archiving related websites?
Now in addition to theryebaker.com returning configuration error messages, Wildyeastblog.com is also returning only errors. As a community, how do we go about retrieving and archiving these sites? Hopefully without violating copyrights. There are so many excellent recipes and so much information that is in danger of being lost now that their owners have apparently moved on to other endeavors.
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Minimal digging revealed that the wayback machine could be used for this, which is super handy. But, it doesn’t quite address the issue of keeping these resources available to the community.
The Wayback Machine has various older captures of theryebaker.com. These archived versions don't always work well, especially if they depend on a lot of javascript. But you can probably find the right pages. e.g.,
https://web.archive.org/web/20230610072046/http://theryebaker.com/
https://web.archive.org/web/20240420224904/https://www.wildyeastblog.com/
To see if any site has been archived:
https://web.archive.org/web/
TomP
I will add Plötzblog and Brotpoet blogs to the list, for different reasons.
Plötzblog owner Lutz Geißler changed the blog at the end of March to a paid subsciption model (4 €/month). I understand his reasons, but only some of his older recipes are available in a free archive. The recipes from 2020 onward are behind the paywall. I would have hoped that only the recipes published after the paywall began would be behind the paywall. Not surprisingly, the Plötzblog recipes are excluded from the Internet Archive.
The Brotpoet blog became private sometime in the last year or so. I had made one recipe from it and was able to find that recipe in the Internet Archive so I could make it again.
I have attempted to contact Stanley Ginsberg through a message on The Fresh Loaf and using his The Rye Baker Tours email address. I have not received a response, even to confirm that the website will no longer be maintained.
I have used the Internet Archive to save some of his recipes, but it is arduous to find a page that is readable, as TomP noted.
It looks like there is contact information for Stanley via his LinkedIn profile. Apparently he closed his online flour business in March of last year.
Hope this helps
Thanks for the tip. I hadn't thought about trying LinkedIn. I did know about the closing of his NYBakers shop last year. I was sad to see that close and I'm still looking for substitutes for some of the rye meals and flours for when I run out of my stash.
At his FB " The Rye Baker Group. I know for fact he is active there. He reprimanded me for multiple violations of the only rye posts. Smile...
I do not have a FB account, so I cannot contact him that way. Someone else will have to try that avenue. But I have tried a PM through The Fresh Loaf and via his The Rye Baker Tours email.
It's worrying if some baking sites are going behind a paywall. The fun of the net is that you can dip in and out of different sites and find baking recipes that interest you.
Personally I avoid subscription models like the plague. It might be fine if you really like a baking site to spend a few euros every month on it, but what if there are a couple more sites you like the look of? It will start to mount up and how many of those recipes will you actually bake each month?
Lance
I feel the same way about Plötzblog and others. I liked looking at Plötzblog for recipe ideas and especially info about rye breads and soakers/scalds, but I don't recall having made one of his breads. I think a lot of that info is also behind the paywall. I know it can be expensive to maintain a website and develop recipes, but Lutz decided it would be his full-time job, not just a hobby—he even has employees.
This is like the proliferation of streaming services. There might be a movie or series you want to watch, but the rest is uninteresting. I might find a few recipes on these sites, but not enough that I'm willing to pay. The New York Times also makes you pay for the recipes, even if you have a subscription.
In Ginsberg's case, I might actually pay some money to keep it going. I like the varied approach to geographic regions and the focus on rye breads.
Ummm, turn off javascript and see about that... I also have one of their free subscriptions, which they say gives me limited access but I can usually see most of what I want including recipes.
this trend is super-sad. I learned so much by reading and baking, haphazardly, whenever I was interested in something, on the ryebaker site and ploetzblog. Sure, people are entitled to make money from their specialty. But these sites made me feel like I was part of a community of sharers. Paywalls destroy that. It's depressing. I feel cast off, adrift and bereft.
As I once wrote, in a lament with tongue firmly in cheek and paraphrasing a book you might know: In the beginning was the monetization, and the monetization was with God, and the monetization was God.
That's not a world I know how to be part of.
Rob
I'm mostly in agreement about paywalls. They are frustrating and can add up quickly. However, I'm also willing to cut Lutz Geißler some slack. Plötzblog is his job and he has several employees on his staff. It's not a hobby or a side-job. What bothered me was that more of his pre-paywall content (recipes and technique posts) was not available free.