Looking for beta testers for a new airsoft social website

[Bo B]

Hi guys and girls,

I fell down the airsoft rabbithole just over a year ago and I bloody love it! 

Something I've heard lots of times at game days is that players are struggling to find certain info and share things e.g. hearing about new game sites. Since starting out a year ago I've found myself split across a few different groups, apps and websites and none of them are really purpose built for airsoft. We seem to have a big community split over loads of small groups, apps and websites.

On top of that existing social media is cracking down. I've already been in a couple of FB  groups that have closed because of rif talk. I'm sure you have too. 

Don't get me wrong, the forum format works great for some elements, but not so great for others. 

So, a very small group of like minded players are developing a new social website, built specifically for all things airsoft. 

We have a 'minimum viable product' hashed out and would like to open it up for a small group of beta testers. 

WE NEED YOU!

If you're interested, please complete the following form to submit your interest. 

https://forms.gle/3XmzrtZzgYtp6AAaA

If you're interested in helping in any other way, feel free to submit a form entry or get in touch with me. We're hoping to get a good variety of the people, opinions and criticism on board at this early stage so that development can be community led. 

Cheers,

Bo

 

[Rogerborg]

Problem: airsoft is split across too many groups, apps and websites.

Solution: add another new group, app or website.

 

[Tommikka]

What would make me a good bets tester?

Attention to detail

View attachment 133782

 

[Rogerborg]

What would make me a good bets tester?

I'm charitably assuming that was deliberate, to invite that reply.

 

[Bo B]

Keep them coming

Problem: airsoft is split across too many groups, apps and websites.

Solution: add another new group, app or website.

Yes, developing one purpose built platform that allows for everything we need, rather than using some sites for this and others for that, makes sense. 

Thank you for your response. 

 

[Galvatron]

Can you provide some clarity on this minimum viable product? FB, Instagram, Twitter  et al are all social websites but they operate differently so how can somebody qualify themselves being a good beta testing candidate when there is no clear competency that needs to be demonstrated?

I ask this as a STEM graduate and professional who developed, released and tested beta phases of a product.

 

[Tommikka]

A two parter:

With Toms rough history of forums & social media, then my key questions 

Fairly abridged history of social media/forums:

Newsgroups / bulletin boards, chat rooms, conferencing systems

Accessed by exlusive dial up or network/internet

These evolved into internet forums

Social media is sometimes considered a 'modern' thing with Facebook, X/Twitter etc - there have been many along the way GeoCities, MySpace etc which came and went sometimes generational (of the user) and sometimes corporate/technolgy change - mostly generational and corporate 

But the functionality of social media was around long before BBSs and the internet, in (or before) the 60s within university & governemnt local(-ish) networks - which became connected giving birth ARPANET and subsequently to the internet

In their heyday forums were the place for 'enthusiasts' of a subject.

In the paintball context there were a handful of 'international' and 'national' forums (primarily US ones could have an international section), and the'enthusiasts' would tend to be a member of an 'overarching paintball' forum plus a 'specific' flavour of forum such as WalkOnZone, UKScenario, P8ntballer (mostly tournament themed)

Sites/event organisers probably had a website, which may or may not get updated.

Facebook pages, became more useful than push based websites, and with the ability for the site to run rather than rely on a web geek (often free 'volunteer' from the marshalling team) to update their pages.

The forums would have regional/team/event sections / thrreads.

Facebook 'group' and 'page' functions allowed for the more specific interested parties to focus on a topic.  e.g. a sites walkon group, or an events faction groups etc.

Then rather than have a forum opener & overview leading to specific conversations / date scheduling some would move fully away from the forum.

Cliques occured, e.g. Fred didn't like the Bert forum discussion/classifieds rules, so Fred took all his friends to the new Bert Facebook group.

Dodgy Dave got caught on all the forums for all his scam sales, so created his own Facebook sales groups, scamming the new blood & blocking those warning about Daves scams before that group died and created a new one

The handful of forum flavours with sub-categories also moved into nieche Facebook groups, fragmenting away and also into cliques (I can instantly name two MagFed paintball cliques and then cliques within cliques)

The 'groups' fractured, and the 'current' nature of Facebook etc loses information into history, with constant repetition and opinion easily disguised as fact.

Facebook groups tried to set rules, and if enforced would result in further splintering, then Facebook set rules which resulted in secret languages which have the potential of suddenly killing off an entire Facebook group when the wrong word flags up.

Somme users returned to forums - but for about a week whilst spamming threads with one line comments to gain calssifieds privileges to be followed by disappearing when they make their sale/purchase or a moderator resets their spam posts.

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This then brings us to your problem statements:

(1) The community is fractured and (2) social media is applying its rules.

The answer to number 2 is easy, return to the forums.

What are the elements that forums don't work for?  

Why is there a need for a new 'social media website' , which would just fracture the community even more, and how would anyone find it?  (And how will hosting be provided for all the functionally / be paid for *)

(a forum is a social media website - an online discussion site with extra functionality - as above, social meadia features have been around for longer than the internet)

* the last UK paintball forum closed three weeks ago, I was a moderator and am still a moderator on the related Facebook page (which was a front end in for messaging in case of failure) 

That forum has always been owned by a particular ‘character/face’ of paintball with a funding stream from retailer advertising - I know nothing more about the closure, it just went down and parked on a holding page.  The domain is now (potentially) available to buy, with the domain registrar accepting bids 

 

[Tommikka]

Keep them coming

Yes, developing one purpose built platform that allows for everything we need, rather than using some sites for this and others for that, makes sense. 

Thank you for your response. 

For my activities I use:

forums

public Facebook pages/groups

restricted membership Facebook pages/groups

My personal facebook

My team/group public facing Facebook pages/groups

Private pre set & event specific Facebook/pages/groups/chats

YouTube and/or public facing Facebook galleries 

OneDrive and/or google hosting

Accommodation apps

Navigation / geo visual apps

Calendar scheduling

Personal / business / team banking

Payment processing 

Event ticket host services

I have gone into overkill there, especially with accommodation, travel etc and niche areas on co-ordinating a team or event …….

But the honest question(s) is/are:

what are these key features?

why aren’t they available from existing social media ?

(by potentially turning on optional social media features that have existed for over 60 years),

why do they need to be in one point of failure?

(last weeks CrowdStrike update final outage)

 

[Madhouse]

There's nothing 'new' in this world, so what's your not-forum loosely similar to? WhatsApp communities? Discord? Signal?

As a member of the public why would I choose yours over, say, here?

 

[Bo B]

Can you provide some clarity on this minimum viable product? FB, Instagram, Twitter  et al are all social websites but they operate differently so how can somebody qualify themselves being a good beta testing candidate when there is no clear competency that needs to be demonstrated?

I ask this as a STEM graduate and professional who developed, released and tested beta phases of a product.

Thanks for the reply. 

The mvp is built on WordPress. It obviously isn't a perfect solution but I think as a proof of concept it will suffice. It allows us to relatively quickly plugin and play with additional features without spending months in custom development. Popular features can then be worked on and improved, whilst unpopular features can be slashed. 

I am but a man with an idea and a little experience in web design. I would certainly love to bring people onboard that are a) interested in the idea of creating a dedicated space for airsoft without the limitations of existing platforms and b) have some experience in the area. Experience might look like community management, web development, content creation, marketing. 

I understand that there will be defensive positions from people here, but I'm genuinely interested in improving what we have. 

 

[Cannonfodder]

View attachment 133807

Great, another social media app which nobody asked for. I can see how this is going to go

Seriously though, every few years someone suggests this and every time bugger all happens 

 

[Bo B]

There's nothing 'new' in this world, so what's your not-forum loosely similar to? WhatsApp communities? Discord? Signal?

As a member of the public why would I choose yours over, say, here?

Thanks for the reply.

Facebook is probably the closest in terms of user interface. 

Options we have as a community currently are restricted in that they force us to adhere to a very rigid format e.g. discord, WhatsApp which makes it hard for us as a community to grow into the space. What if we want to do XYZ but Discord only allows ABC? Example: it's great for live chat but not great for displaying a map of UK gamesites. 

Why not build something that we can mold exactly how we want? If you want XYZ, you get XYZ. 

View attachment 133807

Great, another social media app which nobody asked for. I can see how this is going to go

Seriously though, every few years someone suggests this and every time bugger all happens 

Haha I can see how that would be frustrating. 

I guess it boils down to time and/or money. 

What I would say is if we can prove a demand for it, airsoft businesses will be interested in using the platform to connect with players. It could self fund relatively quickly. 

For my activities I use:

forums

public Facebook pages/groups

restricted membership Facebook pages/groups

My personal facebook

My team/group public facing Facebook pages/groups

Private pre set & event specific Facebook/pages/groups/chats

YouTube and/or public facing Facebook galleries 

OneDrive and/or google hosting

Accommodation apps

Navigation / geo visual apps

Calendar scheduling

Personal / business / team banking

Payment processing 

Event ticket host services

I have gone into overkill there, especially with accommodation, travel etc and niche areas on co-ordinating a team or event …….

But the honest question(s) is/are:

what are these key features?

why aren’t they available from existing social media ?

(by potentially turning on optional social media features that have existed for over 60 years),

why do they need to be in one point of failure?

(last weeks CrowdStrike update final outage)

Thank you for listing the tools you use. It highlights my point pretty well. Why not roll these into one platform specifically built for airsoft.

Some of you will have built up libraries of tools, sites, groups (like yours) over years. Newcomers don't have access to a single resource for airsoft. It's difficult to find things, and it doesn't really need to be. 

 

[Bo B]

A two parter:

With Toms rough history of forums & social media, then my key questions 

Fairly abridged history of social media/forums:

Newsgroups / bulletin boards, chat rooms, conferencing systems

Accessed by exlusive dial up or network/internet

These evolved into internet forums

Social media is sometimes considered a 'modern' thing with Facebook, X/Twitter etc - there have been many along the way GeoCities, MySpace etc which came and went sometimes generational (of the user) and sometimes corporate/technolgy change - mostly generational and corporate 

But the functionality of social media was around long before BBSs and the internet, in (or before) the 60s within university & governemnt local(-ish) networks - which became connected giving birth ARPANET and subsequently to the internet

In their heyday forums were the place for 'enthusiasts' of a subject.

In the paintball context there were a handful of 'international' and 'national' forums (primarily US ones could have an international section), and the'enthusiasts' would tend to be a member of an 'overarching paintball' forum plus a 'specific' flavour of forum such as WalkOnZone, UKScenario, P8ntballer (mostly tournament themed)

Sites/event organisers probably had a website, which may or may not get updated.

Facebook pages, became more useful than push based websites, and with the ability for the site to run rather than rely on a web geek (often free 'volunteer' from the marshalling team) to update their pages.

The forums would have regional/team/event sections / thrreads.

Facebook 'group' and 'page' functions allowed for the more specific interested parties to focus on a topic.  e.g. a sites walkon group, or an events faction groups etc.

Then rather than have a forum opener & overview leading to specific conversations / date scheduling some would move fully away from the forum.

Cliques occured, e.g. Fred didn't like the Bert forum discussion/classifieds rules, so Fred took all his friends to the new Bert Facebook group.

Dodgy Dave got caught on all the forums for all his scam sales, so created his own Facebook sales groups, scamming the new blood & blocking those warning about Daves scams before that group died and created a new one

The handful of forum flavours with sub-categories also moved into nieche Facebook groups, fragmenting away and also into cliques (I can instantly name two MagFed paintball cliques and then cliques within cliques)

The 'groups' fractured, and the 'current' nature of Facebook etc loses information into history, with constant repetition and opinion easily disguised as fact.

Facebook groups tried to set rules, and if enforced would result in further splintering, then Facebook set rules which resulted in secret languages which have the potential of suddenly killing off an entire Facebook group when the wrong word flags up.

Somme users returned to forums - but for about a week whilst spamming threads with one line comments to gain calssifieds privileges to be followed by disappearing when they make their sale/purchase or a moderator resets their spam posts.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

This then brings us to your problem statements:

(1) The community is fractured and (2) social media is applying its rules.

The answer to number 2 is easy, return to the forums.

What are the elements that forums don't work for?  

Why is there a need for a new 'social media website' , which would just fracture the community even more, and how would anyone find it?  (And how will hosting be provided for all the functionally / be paid for *)

(a forum is a social media website - an online discussion site with extra functionality - as above, social meadia features have been around for longer than the internet)

* the last UK paintball forum closed three weeks ago, I was a moderator and am still a moderator on the related Facebook page (which was a front end in for messaging in case of failure) 

That forum has always been owned by a particular ‘character/face’ of paintball with a funding stream from retailer advertising - I know nothing more about the closure, it just went down and parked on a holding page.  The domain is now (potentially) available to buy, with the domain registrar accepting bids 

For me forums lack in the following ways:

1. They are topic focused rather than people focused. 

2. Threads get messy when people have a conversation. I can't for example reply to you without quoting your message and posting onto the main thread. 

3. We can't easily introduce new features. I'd like to see a UK map of airsoft sites, with the ability for sites to register and give us updates on gamedays, share events to an events calendar and give notifications to those that want it. Profiles aren't that intuitive and it's difficult to how different info and fields to different roles e.g. A gamesite owner will want to use the site in a different way to a player. 

4. Honestly, forums just look outdated. Not such an issue for older players but for Gen Z, it matters. 

I'm sure there are plenty more reasons that we could come up with and I'll add more as I come across them. 

 

[Tackle]

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[Bo B]

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Haha I'm getting mental images of @Tackle running around his airsoft game site with a RIS (real imitation spear) because guns don't exist in his world. 

 

[Tommikka]

For me forums lack in the following ways:

1. They are topic focused rather than people focused. 
 

A people based focus of forums…… click on a name to get the individuals forum home, track their content, privately or publicly interact with them:

https://airsoft-forums.uk/profile/12141-tommikka/

2. Threads get messy when people have a conversation. I can't for example reply to you without quoting your message and posting onto the main thread. 
 

Click my name and you can post on my personal page or message me privately, or jump in at the forum home and the member list 

https://airsoft-forums.uk/profile/12141-tommikka/

Hit @  and get a drop down to tag me in a response on thread without needing to quote 

@Bo B

3. We can't easily introduce new features. I'd like to see a UK map of airsoft sites,

Why not a world map?

Why not teams / clubs as well as sites?

https://airsoft-forums.uk/clubs/

with the ability for sites to register and give us updates on gamedays, share events to an events calendar and give notifications to those that want it. 

Not enabled on this forum currently (as far as I know) but calendars & events are a function of Invisioncommunity in which this forum has been built 

https://invisioncommunity.com/features/calendar/

4. Honestly, forums just look outdated. Not such an issue for older players but for Gen Z, it matters. 

I'm sure there are plenty more reasons that we could come up with and I'll add more as I come across them. 

 

[Bo B]

Great! But good UI shouldn't require a lesson in how to use it.  It should be easily accessible and obvious, not buried away and to be brutally honest, formatted horribly. Have you tried using that game sites map on mobile?

I genuinely had no idea about those areas of this site. It's a symptom of the forum structure. Lots of cool things buried away. Bashing new features into a dated forum structure is part of the problem. 

By the way, I really appreciate you engaging with me on this. 

 

[Tackle]

View attachment 133810

Haha I'm getting mental images of @Tackle running around his airsoft game site with a RIS (real imitation spear) because guns don't exist in his world. 

Lol, I was running around with real guns when you were just an itch in your dad's pants, but I tire of every "gen Z" that thinks they're gonna reinvent the wheel.

But you fill yer boots ?

 

[Cannonfodder]

Is there a demand for anything new though? If so then one of the previous ideas would've come to fruition.

What will your platform offer that others don't?

 

[Bo B]

Lol, I was running around with real guns when you were just an itch in your dad's pants, but I tire of every "gen Z" that thinks they're gonna reinvent the wheel.

But you fill yer boots ?

You're assuming a lot there but thanks for the constructive comments. Keep up the good work. 

Is there a demand for anything new though? If so then one of the previous ideas would've come to fruition.

What will your platform offer that others don't?

I guess time will tell but I believe there is demand for it. 

The beauty of being able to develop from the ground up is that we don't need to settle for second best or wait for some third party development team to implement changes. 

If there is demand for a feature, we can build it right into the platform. I'm not going to show my cards on a public forum just yet, but stay tuned.