Owner of Airsoft Hub here *waves*.
Firstly, I apologise about the AI social media post - design is not one of my skills, even the original Airsoft Hub was a templated design that I bought. My background is in developing software, not making things look pretty (so it's not vibe-coded, a lot of it is the original code base still, just brought up to date). I see a ton of AI airsoft posters on Facebook which seem to be accepted - so I thought it would be okay. That's my bad. If any designers want to suggest improvements, i'm all ears.
As for what's different...
As mentioned verification is the main thing, verification requires a gov-issued ID to be checked by a 3rd party (Stripe). This means that someone does scam someone, or is a general nightmare, they’ll be banned for life and they can’t create another account. Yes, there’s a cost to it, but that’s because they charge me to do so. I don't see/ store your data and the process is done completely by a 3rd party. I tried SMS/ Social account approvals on the old site, but they weren't enough of a deterrent to stop people creating scam accounts.
Also as a seller, if the buyer has also been through the verification process, they will have a marker if they're over 18, so you have peace of mind you're not selling RIFs to underage people. (A lot of people did these checks anyway, but that data was then shared via Airsoft Hub or WhatsApp etc which is even less secure).
Another approach the scammers took was impersonating Airsoft Hub staff and sending out links trying to get people to pay. There’s now automated checks for links (not AI driven, rule based regex checking etc.), an official Airsoft Hub account which is introduced to all members, and warning banners if you get messages from people who haven’t been verified.
Feedback - the user feedback tool was abused before, so it's limited to those who have verified their profiles now, so if people abuse it and end up getting banned, then they wont be able to return.
The website does use AI operationally, but only for reviewing reported messages/ listings to ensure they're acted on promptly with me ( + others) reviewing it after.
Essentially, the site works in the same way as before (but better - notifications of messages actually work properly, support for videos blah blah), just with a lot more education and warnings to help users make smart choices.
The website may be a flop this time around and that’s fine with me - I ran the previous version for free, for 8 years at a loss, so i'm not here trying to make millions from the site, just cover my expenses of the ID checks. The main reason I gave it another go as on Facebook i'm still regularly seeing people moaning about being scammed on the other sites so clearly the problem is still out there.
www.airsoft-hub.com
also the messaging on the UA has been broken for like 3 years lol
