kudzurunner
5208 posts
Jan 01, 2015
3:36 PM
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The beginning of a new year is a good time to think prospectively, in a forward direction.
I won't be adding Skype lessons to what I do (the time in my daily schedule just isn't there), nor will I be changing the format or webhost (Macwebsitebuilders.com) of this forum or the MBH website as a whole. Those two things are off the table, at least for the forseeable future.
I'm soliciting two specific types of suggestions for this website. I will read and consider any and all suggestions in this category, and I will do my best to put at least a couple of the best ones into effect.
1) pages that you would like to see added to this website. Please suggest topic areas (i.e., custom harps, unblended Scotch, etc.), personalities, and operationalities (i.e., types of webpages, other than "standard" and forum) that are relevant to the general theme of blues harmonica
2) specific songs or types of songs, or rhythms, or teaching areas that you would like to see added to my current (for-pay) offerings of video tutorials and tabs. I'm increasingly aware of just how incomplete my offerings are, extensive as they may be in certain ways. I've got a few new lessons in the works, but I'm particularly interested in hearing from those of my customers who sense a gap in my lessonry that needs to be addressed.
I've used roughly 80 of the 500 webpages that Macwebsitebuilders gives me, so there is a lot of room for expansion.
Aha: a third area that I'd be happy to have comments in:
3) tweaks, both easy and more challenging, that would optimize what is already here. In recent months I have significantly cleaned up the table of contents (or whatever you call it: the list of pages on this website), but I'm always happy to hear from people with clearer eyes.
As a webmaster and webdesigner, I'm a mule--slow-moving, thick-headed, not terribly inspired--but I also sometimes wake up, move quickly, and kick hard. If you've got a Big Idea, something that MBH could be doing that would serve us all, please suggest away.
And please feel free to email me privately, if you'd prefer: asgussow at aol dot com.
Happy New Year, everybody.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jan 01, 2015 3:40 PM
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nacoran
8188 posts
Jan 01, 2015
4:00 PM
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I still want to do a wiki, but I only got one person saying they'd give a hand. We can't create wiki pages in Macbuilder, but we could name it and link it to here. I've been looking at the free wiki hosting sites, but not having hosted/run a wiki before I'm not sure what tools we'd need. (Wikipedia has gotten a lot better since we tried starting a Blues Harmonica portal there, but they still don't have a lot of information on the 'how' aspects of harp.)
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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Destin
98 posts
Jan 01, 2015
7:06 PM
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A licks lesson would be cool
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slaphappy
58 posts
Jan 01, 2015
7:08 PM
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1. hall of fame collection of great threads page (I mentioned in the other thread)
2. BBQ Bob's "rules of the groove" page or something like that where many of the points he tries to hammer home could live permanently and with high visibility.
3. a refresh of the forum archive. There's good stuff in there that's organized by topic but looks to be a few years stale.
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4' 4+ 3' 2~~~
-Mike Ziemba
Harmonica is Life!
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nacoran
8189 posts
Jan 01, 2015
9:16 PM
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Slaphappy, organizing the mass of knowledge has always been a problem. Germanharpist used to maintain the archives, but he maintained them on his own site. It was a work around to give himself a few more tools. My work around, the Thread threads linked in my signature, tried to do the same thing but in a crowdsource sort of way. I know a few people use it, but it didn't get enough traffic to warrant more than casual maintenance. That's sort of why I'd like to do a wiki. It's a way to keep information up to date and organized, and let multiple people contribute.
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Nate
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Mirco
238 posts
Jan 02, 2015
9:42 AM
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I'd like to see more lessons based around particular grooves. Some grooves are under-represented, I think. (or maybe I'm wrong about that; another suggestion is the option to view your lessons by associated groove instead of skill level).
Not long ago, I purchased the lesson on harmony for improvising. When watching the video, it seemed obvious that you intended for it to be the start of a series. I'd like to see more in the series.
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tookatooka
3718 posts
Jan 03, 2015
3:47 PM
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Hi Adam,
I've just had to re-write three of my websites due to Google moving the goalposts again. If our websites are not mobile/tablet device friendly, Google will penalise those sites and their search ranking will suffer.
I'm not suggesting this site should be made mobile friendly by using Responsive Website Design techniques, that would be a massive task, but I'm suggesting that you may want to look into creating some sort of mobile friendly website that you could use to drive more traffic to this site when the Google penalties start to bite.
Maybe select one of the menu items in your left hand menu that you think could make a stand-alone site?
The websites I've just re-written in HTML5 and CSS, to make them mobile friendly, are customer focused sites which rely on being at the top of the Google search results. You are not going to be too bothered by this yet but the time's going to come when PC's and laptops bite the dust in favour of mobiles devices gaining in popularity.
Best dip your toe now so you are ready. There's nothing worse than finding a website on a tablet only to find you have to keep scrolling and pinching the screen to read what it's all about because it's not mobile friendly.
Just saying.
Last Edited by tookatooka on Jan 03, 2015 3:50 PM
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Harp Study
64 posts
Jan 03, 2015
8:09 PM
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For me Adam's paid lesson's were the key to get over the hump from beginner to intermediate. I love the lesson's and they just work for me.
A couple things come to mind for added paid lessons/suggestions:
I'd like to see more grouped packages like the advanced beginners special, Chicago blues special and OB special. (all of which I purchased and love). For some reason I like getting a deal and more importantly I love how Adam's grouped songs with similar lesson content into a package. There could be packages based on groove or skill level; etc.
I'd like to see a Harmony for Improvisation II (and maybe III if needed).
I'd also like to see a lesson or two on licks such as I, IV, V chord licks and tips for using/learning them.
Just food for thought really. I love this site and all Adam has done for the harmonica community. Thanks again.
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Frank101
46 posts
Jan 03, 2015
8:12 PM
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chromatic
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Shaganappi
132 posts
Jan 04, 2015
10:56 AM
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The Wiki is the best suggestion imo. Push it Nate. But with differing personalities and opinions, it might be tough at times but hey, it can and does work elsewhere. It probably is the only way to link threads (via footnotes, etc.) as numerous individuals put in the time as opposed to moderator / admin types that are likely overly busy already.
Better linkage around the forum per searches and the like would be appreciated. As the forum archives gets bigger and bigger, eventually a ton of good stuff gets buried that only the old-timers can remember or recover. Then the same old information and questions come up. Which is fine in some respects, but a wiki - very, very nice. Big endeavor though.
Maybe all Caps or no Caps in Catchem nice too...
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Thievin' Heathen
457 posts
Jan 04, 2015
1:56 PM
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A "Now Gigging" area would help me catch more live harmonica. This could be self-promotion or just a friendly "heads up" of who's playing, when & where.
I can foresee this getting pretty cluttered, so maybe suggest some loose ground rules. Perhaps, nothing further out than 3 weeks, with exceptions for tour schedules.
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A440
279 posts
Jan 04, 2015
2:11 PM
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1. A new section on Chromatic
2. Optimized for mobile (iPhone, iPad) access
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mastercaster
108 posts
Jan 05, 2015
7:33 AM
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Second the vote to both suggestions:
"Now Gigging"
and,
"Chromatic Blues Harp"
both would be welcome additions ...
Last Edited by mastercaster on Jan 05, 2015 7:36 AM
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timeistight
1671 posts
Jan 05, 2015
9:56 AM
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How about a separate "for-sale/wanted-to-buy/barter" forum? That way, we wouldn't have to scroll to the bottom of a long, image-heavy page just to see the latest goodies.
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Harpin.J
9 posts
Jan 06, 2015
5:55 PM
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Here's my two (or three) cents:
1) Fix the password retrieval option.
2) As tooka says, the site must go mobile friendly. I would be willing to help gratis.
3) Develop a DIY section. The amp I use is as much of an instrument as my harmonica. As is the mic. I love building harp specific amps. I love messing with the guts of my mics. Soon I am going to begin messing with reed replacement and the re-tuning of my instrument. I would bet others would be interested.
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Greg Heumann
2933 posts
Jan 08, 2015
8:07 AM
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I have to add my vote - a new, unambiguous captcha system
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***************************************************
/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
Bluestate on iTunes
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SteveTech
21 posts
Jan 08, 2015
10:01 AM
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I second Harpin's DIY section idea.
It's true that there is a lot of info out there, but not all of it is accurate.
It took me months to sort out whom to listen to.
This site has a truly knowledgeable group of people keeping checks and balances. That makes it is an ideal place for harp DIY resources.
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Little roger
54 posts
Jan 08, 2015
10:20 AM
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My suggestion is - when you click on a thread link in the overview, you are directed to the LAST post, not the first post. Sometimes, if the thread has multiple pages, it is a pain to always have to first go to the first post and then maneuver to the final one manually.
R
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Kingley
3801 posts
Jan 08, 2015
11:28 AM
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I think the suggestion made by timeistight is a very good one.
I also like the DIY idea suggested by Harpin.J.
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Frank101
49 posts
Jan 08, 2015
12:00 PM
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Here's one, how about fixing it so posts are not randomly deleted for no reason? Such as, the post I just made in the "speaking of chromatic" thread, the post that read "That Sapori track is gorgeous."
Please try & fix that, cause it's really ******* annoying.
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nacoran
8202 posts
Jan 08, 2015
12:23 PM
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Greg, I've made the suggestion to the guys at Macbuilders but I don't think they are going to do it and it's not something that we can activate or deactivate on our end. Personally, I wish after you had 50 successful posts it would just turn off for you, or that we could turn it off manually. Even Adam has to fill the dratted things out.
Harpin J., I'll look into fixing the password retrieval system again. The problem technically is how they have it coded but that one we may be able to fix on our end. I know it's a pain. In the meantime anyone who needs a password retrieved, I can reset it for you and email it to you, and then you can reset it to something secure. The system got broken when they fixed a security issue. There is a workaround on our end but it's painful.
I like the idea of a DIY section. We are going to be trying out the wiki idea. The DIY section might be able to be folded in with that. If you can find a site/style of DIY that you like we can see if we can incorporate it.
Little Roger, I don't know if that is something we have control on but I'll ask support. I think, given the choice, that's how I'd prefer it myself. My favorite site, as far as layout for threads, is Fark.com. When you first visit a comments page there it starts you at the top, but the next time you visit the same thread it starts in the middle- right where you left off. Instead of a Captcha you re-enter your sign in info, which most browser's form savers will keep for you. Even if you have to enter it manually, at least it's not weird letters you have to decipher. I doubt they'll implement it- they'd have to do it at the server level, but I can ask.
Timeistight, I take your point. That was the reason we separated them year by year. It meant a shorter list to sort through. The one issue with a separate forum for selling stuff is this- At least the way I use the site, I check the for sale thread whenever I see it pop back up to the top. To me, that's like seeing the little flag up on the side of a mailbox. If it was in a separate sub-forum I might not see it, which, if you are thinking of it as an advertisement instead of just a listing, makes it less likely to sell the item. That said, we have in the past asked members to keep from spamming the forum with ads for their wares. If we had a sub forum, people could post their stuff more freely (although I still think it might be useful for each seller to keep most of their stuff just on one thread.) I suppose it wouldn't be much extra trouble to have both though. We could put a link to the for sale thread at the top of the sub-forum page and people could use the For Sale page as sort of an alert to let people know they have something for sale, but people who are really looking for more detailed listings could go to the sub forum? That traffic issue also goes to Mastercaster's point too. We do have a couple sub forums, but conversations seem to have a certain critical mass they need to keep going and having everything lumped together gets traffic to more threads, at least in theory.
We've also tried to work around our forum's software limitations before with BGT labels (beginner's thread) that people could easily find with a search, but it's a cumbersome work around.
I don't know how many people use them, and I haven't kept them up to date, but my thread threads were an attempt to organize information a bit. It was the only way I could think of to group source archiving the best information on the site, but it was really clunky.
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Nate
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Frank101
50 posts
Jan 08, 2015
8:20 PM
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Seriously, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, what happened to my damn post?
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nacoran
8205 posts
Jan 08, 2015
9:30 PM
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Frank, the spam filter probably got it. Trudge trudge trudge. Yep. It was in the spam filter folder. That is probably the single most frustrating thing for me, because it interrupts the flow of the conversation on threads, but unfortunately it's something on the server end. We've asked about the possibility of turning it off, but they can't do it site by site- they would have to turn it off for every site they host. Since they instituted it has only caught 2-3 legitimate spam messages and catches 2-3 false positives at least every day, and it's more or less redundant in purpose with the captcha (and the IP filtering the hosts do that cause people from strange countries like Russia, China, Sweden and Mississippi to have access to the site blocked for them.) It was put in 2 or 3 years ago and it drives me nuts... But it's something beyond our control to fix. It's the software. All we can do is check the spam folder daily and restore all the messages.
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Nate
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Frank101
52 posts
Jan 09, 2015
11:55 AM
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Thanks Nate, appreciate the explanation,
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