AreYouGreen

AreYouGreen is a fully customizable Telegram bot that helps you manage chats and channels related to Ingress.

areyougreenbot on Telegram Info channel

# Features

Verification services

Load user information from various verification services and assess their verification status.

User kick

Protect the chat by kicking joining users from the chat if they are not verified.

Join requests

Automatically approve or deny join requests using invite links based on user verification status.

Verification check

Check any user for their verification status.

Welcome messages

Send beautiful fully customizable welcome messages to newly joined users.

Translations

Bot and website are translated into multiple languages and more are coming.

Activity log

Every noticeable action is automatically logged to the activity log that is accessible to the chat administrators.

Customizations

Each feature can be turned on or off and some of them are customizable to cover various chats needs.

Verification policy

Adjust how strict the verification process will be.

# How to start

  1. Invite @areyougreenbot to your chat.

Yes, is that simple. The following steps are recommended, but optional, based on your preferences.

  1. Enable verification services, for example enl.rocks.
  2. Set verification policy, for example to Restrictive.
Add bot to your group

# Example scenarios

# Entry level chat

Widely available chat for your community related to a district, county or even the whole country. Anyone can join and virtually meet with nearby agents, arrange some meetups in pubs or other public events.
In some cases, maybe even Resistance agents are welcome here.

The bot will help you keep track of agents and eventually show agent info from enabled verification services.

Recommendations

  • Verification policy: Disabled
  • Welcome message: Some warm welcome with some basic instructions
  • No special Telegram admin permissions are required

# Enlightened only chat

Chat dedicated only to Enlightened agents. Agents can discuss more security sensitive topics such as farms, fields over areas, organizing raids on smurf areas etc.
Resistance agents are not welcome here.

Non-verified users will be kicked out and their join requests will be rejected.

Recommendations

  • Verification policy: Permissive or Restrictive
  • Enable at least enl.rocks verification service
  • Do not use regular invite links
  • Admin should create a join request link and share it with members
  • Users should not have Add members permissions
  • Bot should be admin with Add members and Ban users permissions

# Private community chat

Chat dedicated only to pre-approved list of Enlightened agents. If you mean it with the security, this is the way to go. Big fields, Anomalies and other major events and operations, where privacy is the key.

If the user is not a member of the linked community, then they are not welcome here.

Recommendations

# Alert chat

Any message in this chat is important, declaring that Resistance agents are building a big field over your city or starting gathering on local farm.
Most likely, members here have enabled notifications with custom sounds, so they can act fast.

Bot will keep the chat clean, even delete Telegram's default join messages to limit unnecessary notifications.

Recommendations

  • Setup as Enlightened only chat or Private community chat depending on your required security level
  • Enable Delete system join message
  • Bot must have Delete messages permission
  • Set Forward verification messages to different chat
  • Do not set any welcome message

# Frequently asked questions

  • # What is the difference between Telegram's regular invite links an join request invite links?

    Invite links are short URLs which are used to invite other users to the chat.
    • Regular links will let a user join the chat immediately, even if the chat uses a verification policy and setup verification services. Bot will kick the user afterwards if they are not verified.
    • When a user clicks the Join request link, all chat administrators (including the bot) will be notified. The user will not be let into the chat to read/write any messages until one of the administrators approves them. The Bot will take care of this for you and accept or decline the user depending on policy.

  • # Why should I not use regular invite links in secure chats?

    Regular invite links do not provide secrecy. Non-verified users that join the chat will have a few seconds to read messages before they are kicked from the chat.

    It is still fine to use regular invite links for some scenarios, such as Entry level chats.

  • # Why should users not have Add members permission in secure chats?

    The reasons are the same as with using regular invite links - it is less secure. Directly invited non-verified user will have a few seconds to read message history before they are kicked from the chat. Admins should instead prepare join request invite links and share them with members.

    It is still fine to give this permission to all chat members in some scenarios such as Entry level chats.

  • # Why should I use join invite links?

    It greatly increases the security of your chat. With join request invite links, new users will not able to read chat messages until their join request is explicitly approved by chat administrators.

    If Bot is the administrator of the chat, then it will handle these requests instead of the administrators. If Bot is unsure, other chat administrators can manually accept or decline the requests manually.

    You probably don't want to use these links in scenarios where everyone is welcome, such as Entry level chats, because it creates unnecessary barrier for new users - they may have to wait until some administrator approves their join request.

  • # What can the bot see?

    This Telegram bot has enabled Privacy Mode and can only see chat system updates such as change of title, users that are joining or leaving and some messages directly related to the bot (such as commands or replies).

    If the bot is promoted to an administrator of the chat, it will see every message.

  • # Can I trust this application?

    If you can trust the author, then you can trust this application, too. It is hosted on a private VPS without any access from third parties, neither to the source code or application data.

  • # I have a different question, suggestion or feedback.