Five steps from an empty group to the first ban. You need a Telegram supergroup that you own, and a place in the pilot. Everything happens in Telegram.
1. Open a chat with the bot
What you do: find @WardForthBOT in Telegram and send /start.
What you see: the bot greets you, and the message ends with a link that adds it to your group. The link works for 15 minutes. If it has run out, send /start again and use the new one.
Keep this chat open. The bot cannot start a conversation with you, and this chat is where it later sends what only you should see.
No link in the reply? Then your account is not registered for the pilot yet. The FAQ says how to get a place.
2. Add the bot to your group
What you do: tap the link and choose your group. Telegram asks you to make WardForth an administrator with two rights, already ticked: delete messages, and restrict members. Confirm.
What you see: the bot posts one line in the group. It starts "WardForth is now active in this group" and says how long bans and their entries are kept.
If the bot answers something else:
- It works only in supergroups. If it says your group is a basic group, convert the group to a supergroup in its settings in Telegram, then tap the link again.
- If it says the link cannot be used, the link has run out or was used already. Send
/startto the bot again and tap the new link. - If it asks you to make it an administrator, give it the two rights in the group's administrator settings. The bot then finishes the activation by itself and posts the line; do not tap the link again, it has been used. If no line comes within 15 minutes, send
/startto the bot again and tap the new link.
3. Your administrators can moderate already
Nothing to do. Every Telegram administrator of the group can now ban, unban, mute, unmute and restrict members through the bot. Someone who is not a Telegram administrator can get the same with a moderator role; the owner guide says how.
4. Your first ban
What you do: reply to the message that is the problem with /ban. The bot shows the reasons as buttons: Spam, Harassment, Off-topic, Illegal content, Serious violation of Telegram's terms, or Other. Pick one.
What you see: the bot says who was banned, until when, the reason, and whether the message was deleted.
Two things to know:
- "Serious violation of Telegram's terms" is for content that Telegram itself bans. The bot asks you to confirm, deletes the message for good, and the ban never ends by itself. Use the other reasons for everything else.
- Changed your mind?
/unban @usernamelifts the ban. If the bot does not know the username, use the person's numeric user ID instead.
5. Where to go next
The defaults are sensible: a reason is required for every ban, appeals are off, and a ban with no stated time lasts one year. The owner can change the period and the reason rule with /settings.
- The owner guide: roles, settings, mutes and restrictions, the history, and what is stored.
- Raids and mass spam: what protects the group today, and what to do after an attack.
- Help and FAQ: short answers for owners, moderators and members.