Well, I was sitting here surfing the forums and had an epiphany: this is the best forum I have been on. Then I said to myself, "What makes it that way?":
(in no particular order)

Minimal side banter: We talk about espresso or espresso accessories 99% of the time. The other 1% are minor sidebars, but are usually one or two posts long and never detract from our love of coffee.

Great Layout: I used to make my living doing really high level internet design for big companies (Home Depot, Delta, et. al.) and the layout of this site is better than every one of those companies web portals (what we worked on). By a long shot. Just like in an espresso machine, I appreciate good design.

Your Got A Question, Someones Got an Answer: And that someone may be the distributor of your machine (Chris) or some of the largest online retailers (OlywaDave, 1st-Line, Paradiseroasters, etc). It is great when you have a fellow owner chime in, but it adds alot of reassurance having a 'pro' say it.

Dan's Amazing Indexing System: If your question has been asked before (or anything that may possibly relate to your question) Dan finds the post and gives you a link so that you end up with more information than you thought you needed.

Sponsors: Not only do all the sponsors care about coffee, they support this site. Maybe it is because I just won some coffee from Counter Culture or because of the great deals at the anniversary, but the sponsors care and give the people here some extras.

Those are reasons off the top of my head, feel free to chime in with why you love HB.

Matt

Hello fellows CoffeeGeeks and Home-Baristas!
I want to Thanks all contributors (forums, How-tos etc.) for opening my eyes the quality of what I can get in my cup.
I've been using my Saeco Classico and Cuisinart Burr Mill for 3 years now and never realize how much I was missing or how average my taste was on espresso drinks.
So after 5 (intensives) weeks on CoffeeGeek, Home-Barista and alt.coffee I bought a UNpressurize PF, "tweak" my grinder and been trainning, now I'm getting "there" !
See my results so far below.

So thanks a lot guys!
Nicolas Fortin

Nice! How does it taste?

Very impressive progress in only 5 weeks!

Abe Carmeli wrote:Nice! How does it taste?

Great just great, it seems like better then before , maybe it's just my mind but the texture of the milk give it a different taste for sure! I LOVE it!

nic

HB wrote:Very impressive progress in only 5 weeks!

Yep but did I mention 5 "very intensive" weeks on HB and CG!
Plus I own my machine since more than 3 years now that must help.

nic

i love HB !!

mostly because it is faster than the "other" guys site .

the layout. the info.

dan rules.

umm cant think of any other reasons why HB RULES....

oh yeah THE MAZZER!!!
this thing is great.. not only was the contest great and dan and 1st-line were excellent. but then i needed to research this new machine. (BTW, ANYTHING that has DANGER in huge letters on the front of it is cool, especially if it is a coffee grinder) there are heaps and heaps of worthwhile info here. there are heaps and heaps of worthwhile people here.

thanks for the great community keep up the good work Dan and HB!!

i love you.

jon

...my wife told me today that I've spoiled her and she can't drink anyone elses coffee but mine. That comment made my day. Granted, when we get to a good cafe she enjoys their coffee, but since there is not a good cafe within 20 miles that's not too often.

For Christmas I got her (yeah, right) a Rocky and Silvia. While she hasn't used them she has enjoyed the results. I'm the lone espresso nut in the house, but my wife does enjoy cappas, Americanos and Cubans. Due to Home-Barista and CoffeeGeek my ability to make a good espresso has improved dramatically over the last six weeks and I haven't made a sink shot in over two weeks. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone on these forums that shares their passion and knowledge.

Kurt

I just want say thank you to everyone for contributing to this site, and to Dan and others for all the reviews and for creating this site in the first place. It's all quality here. When I first started getting interested in coffee on a serious geek level, I found CG. And I found alt.coffee. And occasionally I'll still browse through those forums/newsgroups as well as others. But all too often threads seem to degrade into petty arguments, and the lack of body language or familiarity with the other person's writing style or personality can lead to words or ideas being misconstrued. Luckily, that doesn't seem to happen much here. So cheers to HB and to HB'ers - lets try to keep it that way.

Justin

A huge thanks to HB, its supporters and contributors for supplying such an extensive yet well arranged site.
Half a year ago, when I took off on my journey to making espresso at home, I didn't have a clue of the unthinkable amount of information on the topic. In contrast to this readily available information and the actual role coffee plays, I would vote it for one of the most unknowingly consumed goods. HB was by far the most effective cure for me.

greets

marco