HU: Flightsim.com

[dhazelgrove]

When I go to flightsim.com, I'm starting to see this:


Checking your browser before accessing flightsim.com.
This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly.
Please allow up to 5 seconds…

DDoS protection by CloudFlare
Ray ID: 31add4de01bf35ba


The question is - what's happening during the 'up-to-5-second' delay? What's being loaded onto your PC during this hiatus?
Until there's a formal explanation, I'd advise you in all seriousness to stay away.

Dave

[DaveB]

I saw this yesterday Dave and presumed they'd updated their server. Not been back since so I don't know if it's doing this each time you login?
ATB
DaveB:)

[glh]

Did it to me a few minutes ago. Very good point you make -- they should be telling us WHAT is being checked ?? Pop-up blocker ?? Are you a bot ?? What ??

I've dropped them from my bookmarks for now.

[Dev One]

Apparently its a temporary measure to prevent bots invading the site while they are updating other bits. Supposed to be taken off shortly.

[papab]

From there web page:

We are still working on some issues with the web site, as well as dealing with a DDOS attack. This is the cause for the problems some people are experiencing. If you see the "Cloudflare" page just ignore it and wait the 5 seconds until the actual page loads; this is part of the DDOS defense we are using and will be removed when it's not longer necessary.
For other problems, the first thing to try is a forced reload of the page. This may be as simple as hitting CTRL-F5 (works with Firefox, may be different on other browsers). The next step is clearing your browser cache. This will fix most problems.
Original Message

If you are having any problems then you need to clear your browser cache and cookies. Exactly how you do that depends on your browser. If that doesn't fix it, go to a command prompt and run the following command:
ipconfig /flushdns
We apologize for this problem. It was caused by a misconfiguration in our new DNS service. If you have any problems, please let us know:webmaster@flightsim.com
Included your IP address and a traceroute for your computer as described below.
Thank you for your patience!
Here are the quick directions:
Get your IP address from www.whatismyip.com (http://www.whatismyip.com/)
traceroute to www.flightsim.com (http://www.flightsim.com)
Detailed directions: Click the "Start" button in Windows and enter "cmd.exe" in the search window and press Enter. At the command prompt, type "tracert www.flightsim.com" followed by the Enter key. Once it has completed and returned to the prompt, click the icon in the upper left hand of the window, click Edit and then "Select All". This will reverse video the window. Then, click the same icon, click "Edit" and then "Copy". You can now paste the output into your email and send it to us. Please do not forget to add your IP address to the email. Thank you for your help!