Submitting through the Telegram bot

The directory has a bot: @verif_50_bot. Submitting through it is faster than through the form — it takes the name, description and picture from the channel page itself. It also tells you what happened to your submission, which the form cannot do.

Submitting a card — six steps

1. Open the bot — t.me/verif_50_bot — and press Start.
2. Choose your language. There are nine; change it later with /lang.
3. Send the bot or channel. Anything works:
   • a handle — @weather_bot or just weather_bot;
   • a link — https://t.me/weather_bot;
   • a forwarded post from the channel — the fastest way, no typing at all.
   If the link does not answer, the bot says so immediately: a dead one would be rejected anyway.
4. Check the description. The bot fills in the text from the channel page. If it is shorter than 40 characters, it asks you to write your own. This is the text visitors and search engines read — two useful lines are enough.
5. Pick categories — up to three. No more than that: a card in ten sections dilutes every one of them.
6. Press Done. The submission is in the queue.

What happens next

The queue is processed automatically every fifteen minutes. As soon as there is a decision, the bot writes to you:

• published — with a link to the finished card;
• not published — with the reason and a “Fix and resubmit” button;
• sent to a human — this happens with sensitive topics, which are always checked by hand.

To see everything you have submitted, use /status.

If it was rejected

There are only a few reasons, and all of them are fixable:

• the same bot was already submitted earlier — a submission for it is already in the queue, wait for that decision;
• it is already in the directory — the bot sends you the link to the card;
• the link does not answer — check the handle, the channel may have renamed or closed;
• the description is too short — at least 40 characters are needed.

Submitted through the form on the site?

After sending the form, the page shows a “Follow it in Telegram” button. Press it and the bot links the submission to your chat, then reports the outcome exactly as if you had submitted from the chat. The link works once and lasts a week.

Bot commands

• /status — your submissions and where they stand;
• /verify — confirm a channel is yours (how to do it);
• /lang — change language;
• /cancel — stop what you started;
• /help — a short reminder.