I’m working on a Telegram bot using the python-telegram-bot library and need help with channel management. My channel requires admin approval for new members and uses private invite links without public usernames. I want to implement a verification system where the bot automatically sends direct messages to users who request to join the channel. The bot should ask them some questions to confirm they are legitimate users before I approve their join request. I’ve seen this pattern used by other channels recently and it seems like a good way to filter out spam accounts. I’m comfortable with Python programming but not sure about the specific Telegram Bot API methods needed for this workflow. What’s the general approach to detect join requests and send private messages to those users?
The biggest pain you’ll hit is that tons of users can’t receive your bot’s messages because of Telegram’s privacy settings. I’ve run something similar - about 40% of join requests fail because people haven’t messaged your bot first. Here’s how I fixed it: I put a pinned message in the channel with a direct bot link and told people to start a chat before requesting access. Then I set up auto-decline for anyone who can’t receive messages - no point manually reviewing if you can’t verify them anyway. The actual coding is pretty simple once you sort out the privacy stuff - just catch the join request and fire off a welcome message with your verification questions.
The hardest part isn’t coding - it’s dealing with rate limits. Telegram will temporarily ban you if you send messages too fast, so I throw in delays between verification messages. I use asyncio.sleep(2) between each DM to stay safe. Also set up a database to track who you’ve messaged already - saves you from spamming people who submit multiple requests.
This workflow works great for spam prevention. You’ll need ChatJoinRequestHandler from python-telegram-bot to catch join requests. When someone wants to join your channel, the handler fires and gives you their info through the chat_join_request object. Grab their user ID and start a private chat with bot.send_message() using their ID as the chat parameter. Heads up though - some users have privacy settings that block bots from messaging them unless they’ve talked to the bot first. I’d add instructions in your channel description telling people to message your bot before requesting to join. Also, store the join request data temporarily so you can match their verification responses to the original request when you approve them with approve_chat_join_request().