Re: [Harp-L] Retirement from Videos and Posts

[Michelle LeFree <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have been ruminating about Matthew's and David's recent posts. I have 
to admit that I am a bit two-hearted about their respective decisions to 
stop posting on Harp-L (Matthew) and especially to stop posting their 
terrifically informative Youtube videos (both Matthew and David). I now 
have some frank comments about their situations.

My first impression upon reading their posts was great sadness -- for 
two reasons, one selfish. At first I was selfishly saddened because I 
have enjoyed and learned so much from the videos posted by both of these 
generous and knowledgeable harmonica technicians. Plus, from what I know 
of them (I only "know" these gents from their on-line presence), they 
are both simply terrific people. That is the second source of my 
sadness. I am most saddened for these two generous gentleman of the 
internet. They both are quite obviously wounded and feeling their pain 
acutely. I can certainly understand the way they feel about not 
receiving what they deem should have been appropriate positive feedback 
for all their time, effort and generosity. But there is more to that story.

In thinking about the roles those of us who have so freely enjoyed 
"consuming" their altruistic sharing of the information they have gained 
through years of careful study, I focused on my own individual role in 
causing their misery. It seems that I, as well as others like me, who 
didn't always respond to their submissions with gratitude, may have 
inadvertently been the source their pain. Analyzing that issue led me to 
a different way of thinking about their situation. It got me thinking 
about their motivation for posting all this information so freely in the 
first place. After all, prior to their videos, information about 
repairing especially or customizing harmonicas was generally quite 
closely held by those whose knew it.

That's when I, as a long time Harp-L subscriber, began recalling when 
each of these two gents came "on board." In both instances back then I 
remember being struck by the way they each suddenly and brashly began 
posting on the "L" and making their related posts on Youtube. These 
gents both portrayed themselves as theretofore undiscovered experts on 
the field of harmonica technology. In both individual cases I remember 
thinking "where did this guy come from?" Soon, two things became 
apparent. One, they obviously both knew their "stuff." Second, I was 
left with the distinct impression was that they had self-promotion 
interests at foot. And that was and is perfectly OK with me. No problemo.

But now to my point. Both David and Matthew have personally profited 
greatly through their on-line teaching. They both succeeded in 
establishing credibility through their efforts. Their on-line presence 
formed the basis of publicizing their own personal skills and, by the 
way, their own companies. Bottom line: They both created careers and 
businesses through their on-line teaching. To my way of thinking, that's 
very clever use of free advertising! Kudos to both David and Matthew. As 
an old entrepreneur at heart, I salute them both. I wish that I could 
have figured out a way to turn one of my hobbies into a profitable 
business and burgeoning career.

Interestingly, when they had achieved their goals of putting themselves, 
their companies and their products "out there," they not only stopped 
posting, but even removed many of their Youtube videos. That's what 
revealed their true colors.

Let's be real now, folks. I resent being even obliquely accused of being 
a selfish taker who consumed free information without even so much as a 
thank you. And this from two guys who's principle interest in putting 
their videos out really had nothing to do with their selfless desire to 
share their hard-found information. I'm being made to feel guilty by two 
guys who established, through careful and clever business planning, a 
means of creating careers and businesses? I don't think so.

What worries me now is not David or Matthew, though I feel very sorry 
for them personally that they harbor such misdirected animosity towards 
the very people upon whose backs they profited. Through their on-line 
presence, they've succeeded admirable in their personal goals of 
creating careers and businesses. What worries me now is that their 
selfish on-line tantrums might deter future on-line sharing by other 
knowledgeable people. And that, my friends, would be a very sad 
consequence of this whole affair.

At least, that's the way I see it.

Michelle