Help and FAQ

Short answers. The owner guide has the detail, and "Get started in five minutes" is the short path for a new group.

For owners

How do I get a place in the pilot?

The pilot is free, on a manual grant with no end date. We register the owner's account by hand. After that, /start in a private chat with the bot gives you the link that adds it to your group. Where to reach us is at the end of this page.

How do I activate the bot?

Send /start to @WardForthBOT in a private chat and tap the link in the reply. Telegram asks you to make the bot an administrator with two rights, delete messages and restrict members, both ticked already. The link works for 15 minutes; send /start again for a new one. The bot works in supergroups only.

What roles exist?

Owner, Super User, Administrator and Moderator. The owner can do everything. A Super User can do everything in the groups where the role was given, and read the history of all the owner's groups. Every Telegram administrator is an Administrator in the bot by itself: ban, unban, mute, unmute, restrict, and read the group's history. A Moderator has the same six permissions, for someone who is not a Telegram administrator.

How do I give someone a role?

In the group: /roles grant @name moderator or /roles superuser @name. Take a role away with /roles revoke @name moderator or /roles revoke @name superuser. The @username works if the bot has seen the person in the group; otherwise give their numeric user ID, or reply to one of their messages with the command. The owner is told in private whenever Super User is given or taken away.

What are the default settings?

A reason is required for every ban, appeals are off, and the group's period is one year: a ban with no stated time lasts that long, and its entry stays for the ban plus the period. The owner changes the period with /settings, and makes the reason optional with /settings reason off.

How long is the history kept?

The group's period is one year by default, and the owner can choose two years with /settings; the bot asks you to confirm that the group's purpose needs it. Three years needs a prepaid subscription and is not available in the free pilot. A ban's entry stays for as long as the ban lasts plus the period, counted from the day the ban ends; a ban for a serious violation of Telegram's terms has no end, so its entry stays for the period from the day of the ban; a mute, a restriction or a lift stays for the period from its own day. A change applies to new entries only.

What happens when the beta ends?

The beta is free, on a manual grant with no end date, so you can keep using the bot after the test phases. We can end the grant with 30 days' notice, or stop the service at once on a security or privacy incident, or if the bot is misused against Telegram's terms.

For moderators

How do I ban, mute or restrict someone?

Reply to the message with /ban, /mute or /restrict and pick from the buttons: the reason for a ban, the time for a mute, what is restricted and for how long. Instead of replying, you can name the person by @username, if the bot has seen them in the group, or by numeric user ID; a username the bot has not seen is refused. /unban and /unmute lift them.

What does "Serious violation of Telegram's terms" do?

It is for content that Telegram itself bans. The bot asks you to confirm, deletes the message for good, keeps one line with no text and no username, and the ban never ends by itself. Report the content in Telegram or to the police; the bot does not.

Can I ban someone in all my groups at once?

Yes, if you own more than one group with WardForth: the bot asks whether the ban applies to this group or to all of them. The other groups see that the ban came from elsewhere, never from where.

What is in the history?

Every ban, mute and restriction, with the end and who did it. A ban's entry also keeps its reason code, and an ordinary ban's the username the person had at the time; a mute and a restriction keep neither, and a ban for a serious violation keeps the reason code but no username. The text of a banned message, for 90 days, which the owner and the moderators can read while it is kept; the message behind a mute or a restriction only the person it concerns can read. Who joined and who left, for 90 days. Refused commands, for one year. A moderator sees the groups they moderate; the owner and a Super User see all the owner's groups. Reading the history in the bot is under "Coming" at the end of this page.

What happens if a command is refused?

The bot refuses and notes who tried, which command, where and when, and nothing else. Five refused commands within ten minutes warn the owner and every Telegram administrator who has opened a chat with the bot.

For members

Why was I banned or muted?

A person the group has authorised decided it, and chose a reason. The bot decides nothing about you on its own. Its reply names the end of a ban or a mute. Whether you can appeal is the group's choice; appeals are off unless the group turned them on.

What is stored about me?

For a ban: your user ID, the username you had at the time, the group, the time, who banned you, the reason code, and how long the ban lasts. The message text, for 90 days, which the group's owner and moderators can read while it is kept. For a ban for a serious violation of Telegram's terms: no username and no text, only the line. For a mute or a restriction: your user ID, the group, the time, who did it and how long it lasts, with no username and no reason code, and the message so that only you can read it. When you join or leave the group: a record for 90 days. Never pictures, video, stickers, audio or any other media.

Where to ask for help

Write to support@wardforth.com. It is the address for help, and for requests about your data: a copy of it, or its erasure. To report a security problem, write to security@wardforth.com.