what happened to wot

[brakemen]

hello to all: looking for info on this subject

just wondering what happened to world of trainz? are they comming back to the trainz world?I know they had some spam on their forums but it should been fixed now seems like its been at least 2 years now maybe just guessing.

brakemen

 

[kd7eirjim]

They seem to be fine to me http://www.worldoftrainz.com/index.htm

 

[Sourdough]

They seem to be fine to me http://www.worldoftrainz.com/index.htm

The forum still isn't.....wondered if Phil kept the sight up much since the stuff is older.

 

[kd7eirjim]

I did see that the forum was down, but honestly did not pay much attention to that. It is an odd situation. I could definitely help him configure his vBulletin system to virtually eliminate the SPAM problem that he refers to. I run several websites and forums, and have no issues with SPAM. It does take a bit of work upfront, but once that is done, it's pretty simple to maintain.

 

[brakemen]

I was just wondering, I can sill navigate through out the wot with no problems but the fourms are the ones got spamed. I can still log in and out of the fourms but accessing them no not yet. maybe after 2 years he will get it fixed. maybe since the spam is located in the forums maybe he can take out just the fourms delete them and rebuild the fourms all together again.

brakemen

 

[kd7eirjim]

If SPAM is the problem, he could just delete all the users from his database, add a good CAPTCHA requirement and admin approval to the registration process, ask everyone to register again, and not allow guests to post anything at all. If his SPAM problem originated from specific locations, he could use a geolocation add-on to block certain countries. While the spammer could use a proxy to get around that, it would stop 99% of them from attempting to register. Then, require all messages to be moderated before being posted until a user has been proven to be a legitimate member. This really is a matter of an hours work at most to get setup. If he is interested I would be more than happy to set this up for Phil.

 

[Phil_C]

If SPAM is the problem, he could just delete all the users from his database,

Haven't tried that yet.

add a good CAPTCHA requirement and admin approval to the registration process

Tried that no success.

and not allow guests to post anything at all.

Done that no success.

If his SPAM problem originated from specific locations, he could use a geolocation add-on to block certain countries. While the spammer could use a proxy to get around that, it would stop 99% of them from attempting to register. Then, require all messages to be moderated before being posted until a user has been proven to be a legitimate member. This really is a matter of an hours work at most to get setup. If he is interested I would be more than happy to set this up for Phil.

The problem is I was getting about two hundred new users registering every day. 99% were bogus. I tried every setting in Vbulletin I could find to stop them but they kept coming. Having a list of over a thousand users to sift through looking for some that may be legit was taking too much of my time so I closed the forums (and yes I did inadvertently delete a valid user who emailed me afterwards). It was going to be temporary until I had more time to sort it out. I don't think it's been two years though There are 425 users waiting for approval right now with names such as "Zoey_Arizona", "Zoey_fromAB", "Zoey_fromAC" etc.

I had big plans for World of Trainz but real life events took over and I have not had a chance to update anything for years. I started to update my locos for TS12 but realized it is a huge task and I really don't have the expertise to update the textures to be visually realistic. Someone posted some time ago about how they would be willing to help out and I thought about taking them up on the offer but I don't remember who it was. I would really like to learn to do the re-texturing myself but time is the problem. Maybe sometime this year I will have some more spare time to commit to the updates.
As a one man show I have had to learn everything from modelling to sounds. I am strong in the modelling and scripting side but my texturing and sounds let me down. That is one reason all my engine sounds are by other creators and the horn sounds are well ordinary to say the least. I enjoy texturing but I don't have the knowledge for creating ultra realistic textures and I don't have the time to learn. I was planning on taking a TAFE course in texturing but again time restraints prevented me from doing so.

Regards

Phil

 

[kd7eirjim]

I would be more than happy to take a look around your forum, weed out the chaff, and setup a system to allow you to eliminate 99% of the fake users, of course that would require admin access, which may be a deal breaker for you. If not, I would be more than happy to make a sub-forum on my forum for you to communicate with your 'clientele' LOL My forum is www.kd7eir.com/forum Feel free to take a look around and tell me what you think.

 

[AJ_Fox]

Hello Phil

Long time no see. The problem may be with spam bots, like the example you provided. Using distorted characters which bots can't read to confirm they are real people seems to be the current solution. I'm not sure how to do that because I don't have a website, but I'm sure others here can help with that.

Cheers and good luck

AJ

 

[kd7eirjim]

I use a very successful captcha as well as automatically blocking registrations from known spammer IP address ranges, emails, and in a couple of cases entire domains. This makes for a very trouble free process of keeping the riff raff away.

 

[xcrossi]

Hello
What cost if any to up date WoT locos / gatekeeper to 2012

1st order Oct 13/07
Qty Item Options Price
1 Loco SD50 Denver and Rio Grande Western Hood Lights
Item # 86105 5241 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco SD70MAC BNSF Warbonnet
Item # 86105 6401 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco SD70MAC BNSF Heritage II
Item # 86105 6400 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco ES44DC BNSF Heritage III Black Front
Item # 86105 8402 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco AC6000CW Union Pacific Winged Logo
Item # 86105 8173 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco SD50 Union Pacific
Item # 86105 5265 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco SD50 Southern Pacific Hood Lights
Item # 86105 5263 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco SD60M Burlington Northern Santa Fe Heritage I Prototype
Item # 86105 6305 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco ES44AC Union Pacific Building America
Item # 86105 8451 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
Amount $45.00 USD

2nd order Dec3rd 07
1 Loco C44-9W Southern Pacific Post Merger
Item # 86105 8026 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco ES44AC BNSF Heritage II
Item # 86105 8440 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco SD60 Burlington Northern
Item # 86105 5300 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco SD60M Burlington Northern Hood Lights
Item # 86105 6307 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco SD60M Burlington Northern Desert Storm 1991
Item # 86105 6312 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
1 Loco SD60M Union Pacific Winged Logo Ditch Lights Above
Item # 86105 6315 xcrossi:
Version: TRS,TC:
$5.00 USD
Amount $30.00 USD

Dec 27,07 Note:

Thank You for service $10:00

Gerry