Building a Community of Crappie Anglers by Brad Wiegmann

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Over the years the internet has influenced everything from relationships, communicating with others
and yes even crappie fishing. Yes that’s right, crappie fishing as anglers started posting stories and post
to forums. Today there is numerous crappie related websites, but only Crappie.com with its humble
beginnings back in 1996 focusing on crappie fishing.


Truthfully, Ed Moes, Owner and Editor of Crappie.com, told me how it became to be over a few adult
beverages and the rest is history. However in the beginning it was simply a forum for anglers to post
fishing reports. “It was one-of-a-kind focusing on crappie fishing,” said Moes.


Shortly after Richard Williams started posting on to the forum and shortly later Bob Bass requested
what became the second forum. “From there it grew and grew. Today, we are continually asked to start
new ones and we do if it’s appropriate,” said Moes.


Way back when Crappie.com was starting, Moes noted there were some negative issues with how and
what some of the anglers were posting. Thankfully, one of his close friends encouraged him to stay the
course and not allow these bad-apples to post on the forum if not appropriate. In the end, Moes was
able to set high standards for individuals posting keeping Crappie.com (Crappie.com - America's Crappie Community) a family
friendly unlike many of the other forums on the internet. Of course that doesn’t mean that someone
can’t write an inappropriate post, but it’s quickly reported or detected by moderators that deal with it
appropriately.


Over the years Crappie.com has grown to over a hundred forums with Mississippi being the most
popular followed by Missouri and Kentucky. Crappie anglers can check out the tabs on the Crappie.com
Home Page including Home, Forum, Fishing, Fishing Forums, Store, Membership and All Stuff. The Home
Page promotes current popular content for anglers to read along with posts about current events like
Crappie Camps or contests. No ads are allowed in a post only in the "Member Sponsors" forum.


Like most forum websites moderators get the praise or ridicule by members. For Crappie.com one Super
Moderator stands out. David Shands, aka “G” or “Inspector G” has been a member of Crappie.com for
over ten years now.


Shands is phenomenal when it comes to protecting the integrity of Crappie.com and keeping the
website free from advertorials and negative posts. Every angler is welcome to join Crappie.com with its
“Family, Friends, Fishing and Fun” motto. Amazingly, Shands approves each and every new member’s
account; in addition to reviewing memberships and blocking spam from the website.


Although, Moes and Shands are the driving force behind Crappie.com the actual heart of the website are
the members from across the United States. Passionate crappie fishing angler Dickey Porter aka
Drumking is similar to other members on Crappie.com website. “I joined Crappie.com because of the
family friendly attitude of the website,” said Porter.


“The one website I was going to before turned so negative with comments and had little actual fishing
information; I finally just left and that’s when I found Crappie.com website. Now I like to post and give
other crappie anglers information on how to catch fish with details on location, water temperatures,
color patterns and what lures. Plus, I like to include photographs of my catch or lures with each post,”
said Porter.


Porter noted he likes to make his post enjoyable to read; in addition to containing meaningful
information. “It’s easy to post content or photographs on Crappie.com. The one thing I did have to
figure out was the orientation when posting a photograph. I do get a lot of good feedback from other
anglers reading my post which is really encouraging,” said Porter.


Crappie.com offers something for every angler wanting to learn more about fishing or anything related
to fishing. Its numerous forums allow anglers to check out everything from crappie fishing, panfish,
electronics, contests, cooking, crappie tournaments, live bait, boat mechanics and so much more.


There’s also section with just articles and stories. Consider this your invitation to visit Crappie.com and
becoming a member of America’s Friendliest Crappie Fishing Community.

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All I'd change is "Moes and Shands (and about 100 other mods and supermods) are the driving force behind Crappie.com....". But yes, "G" is a phenomenon, and that's why he's the one and only "10 year JMMA award winner".