Likely Spam attack underway.
- Thread starter wreeder
- Start date
Frank_Dean
Well-known member
I'm not worried about the guests; they can read about what Trainz is all about and maybe learn something.
The problem is that anyone who registers on the forum but doesn't have a Trainz version registered to their username is allowed to start threads and reply to messages. That's clearly a free pass for spam and trolls.
Reading on this forum should be free for everyone, but active participation should only be allowed to owners of some version of Trainz.
The problem is that anyone who registers on the forum but doesn't have a Trainz version registered to their username is allowed to start threads and reply to messages. That's clearly a free pass for spam and trolls.
Reading on this forum should be free for everyone, but active participation should only be allowed to owners of some version of Trainz.
I agree completely. I see no reason for anyone who doesn't have a registered Trainz version to be posting in any of the forum. However, there could be ONE panel open for those who want more info before plunking down their money for a version. Granted, this would once again invite spam, but it would also limit it to one panel.
Bill
It may (or may not) be related but the Trainz Wiki Index page is very slow to load and, when it does, will often default to a very basic text layout. Links to pages from the Index are also slow to load and often do not show all the graphic elements.
Helpdesk ticked submitted.
Helpdesk ticked submitted.
hiawathamr
DLC developer for Trainz
I run a forum platform in addition to my site (https://forums.hiawathamr.com/) and I see a lot of guests (most are just spambots).
As long as the login proceedure has some kind of strict filters in place, I won't worry.
Cheers
As long as the login proceedure has some kind of strict filters in place, I won't worry.
Cheers
It's been like that for me over the last couple of days. Now the WiKi (TS2009.com) server seems to be down with an SSL handshake issue.
Raise another Helpdesk ticket. The more the merrier.
Hoglin9899
Youtuber
Well that certainly is a few guest accounts.
Hoglin9899
Youtuber
If this is actually a spam attack.
why tho.
It’s the forums for a trainz simulator.
why tho.
It’s the forums for a trainz simulator.
I had one on my forum last year, wondering why the database wouldn't load due to too many queries, turns out 7222 users or bots were trying to access at the same time, my webhost then suggested cloudflare, where I then blocked all traffic from China which was where most of it was coming from, which fixed the problem.
hiawathamr
DLC developer for Trainz
@marky7890 -
I've also been having a lot of issues with my forums towards the end of 2025 thanks to the scambots. Most times I had to take the entire forums down by subspending it for a while or deal with loading issues on the forums which sometiems affected my website.
This was when I added Cloudflare to my entire site and all subdomains which has helped. I've also added a a 3rd party captcha challenge to replace the builtin PHPBB captcha challenge which also has helped a lot.
To help reduce bandwidth as users can upload directly to my forums, I've made it where only logged in/registered users can view all uploaded files and images. This also helped a lot.
@Hoglin9899 -
Spambots don't care as most are automated.
They'll identify the forums by crawling the web for specific signatures of common forum software such as Xenforo (the forum software N3V uses). Then they will register with their generated username, password, and email and post their links before getting banned.
cheers
hiawathamr
DLC developer for Trainz
alfredo_20
Well-known member
There are lots of spammers on Trainz Wiki. I've deleted a lot of content this week.