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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
MBH past and present
MBH past and present
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dougharps
2394 posts
Jun 22, 2026
10:22 AM
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I really enjoyed this forum in the past when there was a lively exchange of information and viewpoints on technique, theory, gear, instruments, music, and players.
I learned a lot and clarified my own thoughts reading and participating in dicussions regarding harmonica. I applied much of this information to my own journey with the instrument.
Sometimes exchanges were contentious and sometimes some articuated political ideologies, but overall harmonica was the focus.
The Facebook site doesn't meet that level of vibrancy for me.
A few of us still post and engage in infrequent exchanges here, but to a great extent spam slop shares the forum on an almost equal basis.
I guess as we age and the world changes we have to acknowledge the passing of once valued resources into obscurity.
What made this forum great in my opinion was the crowd sourcing of information on playing this odd little instrument and the shared ideas of fellow players who passed beyond dabbling and embraced their descent into the rabbit hole of harmonica.
The forum was self directed shared instruction, not driven by a specific instructor, but supported by one (Thanks, Adam!)
Here's a toast to those committed to improving their ability to create music playing the tin sandwich.
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Doug S.
Last Edited by dougharps on Jun 22, 2026 10:23 AM
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RobDawg
25 posts
Jun 23, 2026
9:08 AM
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hey Doug. this made me reminsce about Harp-L. This site has enough history to keep me coming back, too! I get distracted trying to read the harmonica channel on reddit, but the reddit community seems to be fairly active.
I won't admit that I'm getting older, but I have forgotten my slidemeister login info once again. Like you, I'm not giving up on learning and growing, and I appreciate the combined wisdom of our group!
Robert
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Gnarly
Alternatetuning
3234 posts
Jun 23, 2026
11:56 AM
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I have sooo many Slidemeister posts, but stopped posting there a couple of years ago.
But my posts are still available, evidently.
I still follow harp on the ‘net, and regularly check this forum.
Nice to have met Doug at SPAH, he is a prince!
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nacoran
10471 posts
Jun 28, 2026
10:25 AM
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The forum just doesn't have the tools do deal with spammers proactively. When someone applies on FB you can see how long their account has been active, even click through to their profile. That lets us prescreen really well.
/harmonica on reddit has a nice group of people. It's good sized too, but moves a bit slower than the FB group. (I admin there too). Reddit uses a different system to keep spammers out... karma scores. From the software end of things we can't push notifications here, so when people do post no one knows unless they happen to check in, which means fewer people post, which means fewer people check in...
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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dougharps
2395 posts
Jun 30, 2026
1:03 PM
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Although I mentioned the spam issue, I mainly wanted to recognize the impact of this forum during the time when many posted, read, and exchanged information and technique. So much information and so many differing viewpoints with lively discussion appealed to me more than a structured framework from the viewpoint of any single instructor.
I was already well along in my harp journey and had developed a more melodic approach in contrast to the traditional blues focus on groove approach in my playing. This is probably due in part to my having explored melodies on chromatic harmonica by ear for 10 years prior to picking up a diatonic harmonica. In learning diatonic I only had the Tony Glover book and my ears to guide me over decades of diatonic playing.
On this forum I was able to consider diatonic harp options and choose those ideas that melded well with my existing skills and musical thoughts. The information here (and at various workshops I attended) helped me commit to embracing and enhancing the musical approach I had already been developing.
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Regarding the forum spam issue, Nate has more than adequately explained it.
At times the spam on the forum has significantly annoyed me, but there are no simple solutions and I no longer want to expend the energy on being annoyed. There are so few still posting here. My needs and those of other past forum members to seek diatonic harmonica information have diminished over time.
I liken the posters of spam on the forum to those passers-by who walk their dogs past my front garden:
Instead of keeping their dogs on the parkway to do their business many pet owners casually guide their dogs along side the flowers and shrubs. They all but encourage their dogs to destructively relieve themselves on the plants. This carelessness toward the efforts of others used to make me angry.
Now, rather than expend emotional energy in frustration I accept this kind of behavior as a part of life and I move on.
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Doug S.
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nacoran
10472 posts
Jul 07, 2026
1:17 PM
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There is a concept in evolutionary science that you can
look at the size of a primates brain and, at the species level at least, guess the size of the groups it will form. It's called the Dunbar Number. For humans it's about 150 stable relationships we can maintain.
On forums there seems to be a minimum number, where, especially absent push notifications and all that stuff, the group just doesn't have enough activity to keep active. I'm not sure what the exact number is. I worried, when we broke off into beginner forums and the main forum that we might fall below that here, though I think the falloff here had more to do with not having push notifications and constantly being recommended for new members by a social media algorithms to replace members who drift away.
And of course, social media algorithms want to put everyone in the biggest group. If you put people in a group that is too small to self-sustain it will wither and die, but if you put them in a group that is too big you run into that Dunbar number. You just end up with everyone revolving around the site but it's hard to make individual connections. There is a mismatch between what our human brains can handle and what the algorithm wants.
I think someone better at social media design might be able to crack that nut... I remember in the bad old days of MSN chat rooms there was lag if too many people joined the chat. That naturally limited group sizes.
I know people have tried Discord channel groups. I've got a friend who is an admin on a game site discord. They've got a few people who actively recruit new people, but in a voice chat the number of people before it gets too noisy and messy is much smaller than a text chat.
I bet a psychology student could do a whole dissertation on the Dunbar number and social media groups. AI is only going to make it more complicated. We are already seeing waves of AI posts trying to get views. I suspect a lot of the like/laugh emojis on FB are AI. Seems like a good, simple way, to promote or suppress content for a state actor.
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Nate
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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andysheep8
107 posts
Jul 09, 2026
2:04 AM
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Although I can't find it in the archives, I believe I was the first person ever to post on this forum after Adam Gussow set it up so many years ago.
My User names and computers have changed a few times since then.
It quickly grew into a vibrant community, exchanging information and experience.
The days when the likes of Buddha and Christelle would weigh in at length and with passion; love them or hate them, they kept it lively.
I got to chat with the likes of Jason Ricci, Brendan Power, Adam himself and many others often finding help and encouragement in my own journey.
Now, I admit, I am more of a lurker and have watched the site slowly fade away, for which I share responsibility.
I discovered that Overblows were not some cruel hoax used to prank newbies, and one day I hope to use one live on stage, one day.
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