#feature
The ability to delete private links in messages is now available. To use it, send /deleteprivateinvitelinks
Note: Though unconfirmed, this feature may move to a “locks” feature in the future, and that feature may only be available to HAL Premium.
The ability to delete private links in messages is now available. To use it, send /deleteprivateinvitelinks
on to your group, or a connected DM with HAL. See the “Antispam” section in /help to learn more.Note: Though unconfirmed, this feature may move to a “locks” feature in the future, and that feature may only be available to HAL Premium.
#update
HAL will no longer ban users who were banned by SpamWatch for spam-adding members to groups. Our simple rule is that we only ban for actual spam posted in a group, or for impersonation/unsolicited messages. These bans have resulted in false-positives on genuine users who had no intent on truly spamming.
HAL will no longer ban users who were banned by SpamWatch for spam-adding members to groups. Our simple rule is that we only ban for actual spam posted in a group, or for impersonation/unsolicited messages. These bans have resulted in false-positives on genuine users who had no intent on truly spamming.
⚠️ #incident
One of our federation partners, CAS, is currently unreachable by HAL. Due to a bug, this has unfortunately caused HAL to fall over and not process any messages.
We’ve found the bug and fixed it, so messages should still at least be subject to analysis through the filtering system, however CAS bans currently have no effect.
We’ll post another update here once we’ve heard back from CAS, or once it comes back online.
One of our federation partners, CAS, is currently unreachable by HAL. Due to a bug, this has unfortunately caused HAL to fall over and not process any messages.
We’ve found the bug and fixed it, so messages should still at least be subject to analysis through the filtering system, however CAS bans currently have no effect.
We’ll post another update here once we’ve heard back from CAS, or once it comes back online.
HAL Updates pinned «⚠️ #incident One of our federation partners, CAS, is currently unreachable by HAL. Due to a bug, this has unfortunately caused HAL to fall over and not process any messages. We’ve found the bug and fixed it, so messages should still at least be subject to…»
✅ #incident resolved at ~09:20 UTC
The CAS API is now back online, so HAL will continue to check for CAS bans on all new messages.
Apologies for the inconvenience.
The CAS API is now back online, so HAL will continue to check for CAS bans on all new messages.
Apologies for the inconvenience.
⚠️ #incident
SpamWatch went down several times for system updates, and once it came back online, we noticed that all SpamWatch checks were resulting in false-positives, which banned several users globally in error. These users have been unbanned, and SpamWatch ban-checking has been disabled while we investigate.
SpamWatch went down several times for system updates, and once it came back online, we noticed that all SpamWatch checks were resulting in false-positives, which banned several users globally in error. These users have been unbanned, and SpamWatch ban-checking has been disabled while we investigate.
⚠️ #incident – SpamWatch unavailable
Started: 2022-10-03T15:00:28.078Z
SpamWatch appears to be down. https://status.spamwat.ch/ is currently reporting a response timeout. HAL is currently ignoring these errors and running all other anti-spam pipelines, including CAS and the filtering system.
We’ll monitor an advise when it’s back up and running.
Started: 2022-10-03T15:00:28.078Z
SpamWatch appears to be down. https://status.spamwat.ch/ is currently reporting a response timeout. HAL is currently ignoring these errors and running all other anti-spam pipelines, including CAS and the filtering system.
We’ll monitor an advise when it’s back up and running.
#bugfix
HAL was being a little bug, deleting stickers that were not part of sticker-sets (i.e., regular stickers), regardless of whether or not they were known to be spammy.
It’s been updated, and won’t do this anymore.
HAL was being a little bug, deleting stickers that were not part of sticker-sets (i.e., regular stickers), regardless of whether or not they were known to be spammy.
It’s been updated, and won’t do this anymore.
#update #bugfix
Recently, we became aware of an issue surrounding anonymous admins being unable to activate HAL in their groups, and also being unable to use Connections to configure their groups in private chat with the bot. Unfortunately, HAL was not storing administrator information properly, and so anonymous admins could not always be detected, specifically when it comes to bot administration and group setup.
This has been corrected – HAL will now store this information correctly, and will automatically update it in the background regularly.
If you encounter any issues related to anonymous administrator accounts, please reach out to @halsupport for assistance.
Recently, we became aware of an issue surrounding anonymous admins being unable to activate HAL in their groups, and also being unable to use Connections to configure their groups in private chat with the bot. Unfortunately, HAL was not storing administrator information properly, and so anonymous admins could not always be detected, specifically when it comes to bot administration and group setup.
This has been corrected – HAL will now store this information correctly, and will automatically update it in the background regularly.
If you encounter any issues related to anonymous administrator accounts, please reach out to @halsupport for assistance.
#updates
– To avoid confusion and avoid being so anti-everything, we’ve renamed ‘antidupe’ to ‘dedupe’, as in ‘de-duplicate’.
– The /help menu has been updated to be a little more friendly on phones – it doesn’t show menu items in columns anymore.
– To avoid confusion and avoid being so anti-everything, we’ve renamed ‘antidupe’ to ‘dedupe’, as in ‘de-duplicate’.
– The /help menu has been updated to be a little more friendly on phones – it doesn’t show menu items in columns anymore.
#update
The /info command has been renamed to /me. Its functionality remains the same (see “Misc” in the /help menu for info).
The /info command has been renamed to /me. Its functionality remains the same (see “Misc” in the /help menu for info).
#notice
Telegram recently released a new feature called Topics, which allows groups to be broken up into multiple threads, much like an online forum. The implementation of this feature is far from perfect, and there are downsides when it comes to bots.
HAL may not work properly in groups that use Topics. For example, it may not reply to commands, and it may not delete messages where /hban is concerned. However, background tasks that do not require the bot to send messages (such as a ban-action) may continue to work.
Due to the limitations, however, we do not recommend using HAL in a group that has Topics enabled.
Whilst we believe Telegram dropped the ball on this one (it is a breaking change that even the big bots like Rose and Combot are still preparing fixes for), HAL isn’t currently being used in any groups that use Topics. Most of them are connected to channels, which prevents them from enabling Topics. As such, a fix is not going to be rolled out just yet. It is on the todo list, though…
Telegram recently released a new feature called Topics, which allows groups to be broken up into multiple threads, much like an online forum. The implementation of this feature is far from perfect, and there are downsides when it comes to bots.
HAL may not work properly in groups that use Topics. For example, it may not reply to commands, and it may not delete messages where /hban is concerned. However, background tasks that do not require the bot to send messages (such as a ban-action) may continue to work.
Due to the limitations, however, we do not recommend using HAL in a group that has Topics enabled.
Whilst we believe Telegram dropped the ball on this one (it is a breaking change that even the big bots like Rose and Combot are still preparing fixes for), HAL isn’t currently being used in any groups that use Topics. Most of them are connected to channels, which prevents them from enabling Topics. As such, a fix is not going to be rolled out just yet. It is on the todo list, though…
⚠️ #incident – HAL is currently down for everyone. It’s under investigation and will come back online soon.
Update 04:50 UTC: Combot Antispam (CAS) is also unreachable – their domain is not resolving. This is likely part of the problem.
Update 04:53 UTC: HAL has been rebooted and is currently playing catch-up where it can. There is no guarantee that this will succeed, but it’s being monitored.
Update 04:58 UTC: HAL is still catching up on messages it missed. Spam is being removed, and spammers are being banned.
Update 04:50 UTC: Combot Antispam (CAS) is also unreachable – their domain is not resolving. This is likely part of the problem.
Update 04:53 UTC: HAL has been rebooted and is currently playing catch-up where it can. There is no guarantee that this will succeed, but it’s being monitored.
Update 04:58 UTC: HAL is still catching up on messages it missed. Spam is being removed, and spammers are being banned.
✅ #incident resolved at 05:04 UTC
HAL is back up and running, and responding to commands. We may need to reboot a few more times while we make some adjustments.
Additionally, CAS is currently unreachable, and HAL is silently ignoring this. The fact that it is down is likely what caused this downtime. Their domain cannot be reached at all, and this was producing a very large amount of errors. To circumvent, HAL is silently ignoring the issue until such time as it comes back online.
We’ll continue to monitor and keep you posted.
Update 05:53 UTC: CAS is aware of the issue on their end and will resolve in due course. No ETA announced. Some spam may seep through while their system is inaccessible. The rest of HAL’s antispam system is working normally.
Update 17:07 UTC: Unfortunately CAS is still down. HAL is catching a large amount of spam, nonetheless. We’re not sure when CAS will become available again, but hopefully it’ll be in the next 24 hours.
Update 05:39 UTC, 17 Nov: CAS is back online.
HAL is back up and running, and responding to commands. We may need to reboot a few more times while we make some adjustments.
Additionally, CAS is currently unreachable, and HAL is silently ignoring this. The fact that it is down is likely what caused this downtime. Their domain cannot be reached at all, and this was producing a very large amount of errors. To circumvent, HAL is silently ignoring the issue until such time as it comes back online.
We’ll continue to monitor and keep you posted.
Update 05:53 UTC: CAS is aware of the issue on their end and will resolve in due course. No ETA announced. Some spam may seep through while their system is inaccessible. The rest of HAL’s antispam system is working normally.
Update 17:07 UTC: Unfortunately CAS is still down. HAL is catching a large amount of spam, nonetheless. We’re not sure when CAS will become available again, but hopefully it’ll be in the next 24 hours.
Update 05:39 UTC, 17 Nov: CAS is back online.
#feature #updates #announcement
HAL has just been updated with a new feature and some other relevant changes and updates.
——
Telegram provides the ability to toggle certain features in group chats, such as stickers, GIFs, and media. However, it’s very broad, and doesn't cover the specific needs of each group.
HAL now has the ability for group admins to add a level of precision and lock a wide range of things that may not be desired in their group. This includes things like private invite links, public chat links, @mentions, #hashtags, $CASHTAGS, and many more. You can see the entire list of and toggle chat locks by sending /chatlocks in DM with @thisishalbot. For more details on what each chat lock is for, send /chatlocktypes.
When a chat lock is turned on and a member sends something covered by that lock, then HAL will respond with a self-destructing message, informing the member that their message was deleted and why.
Deprecation Notice: The /deleteprivateinvitelinks command will continue to work, however it has been marked as deprecated and will be removed in a future release. We highly recommend turning off the deletion of private invite links (/deleteprivateinvitelinks off) and using the applicable chat lock instead.
PS: If you’re using Rose alongside HAL, and you've got locks enabled in Rose, please don't enable them in HAL as well. No point in having two bots deleting the same message…
——
This is slated to be HAL’s paid tier that will offer more functionality to groups when HAL exits beta.
Primarily, HAL is an antispam bot. However, like with all bots that intend to eventually run at scale, HAL costs money and time to maintain. At the moment, this cost is low, but it will most certainly rise as and when HAL needs to scale up to meet the demand of more groups over time.
To manage this, some of the big bots run on donations, whilst others are paid-only or run on freemium model. HAL will be taking the freemium approach, where its antispam system will be free for everyone, always, and specialised chat management features will form part of HAL+ when we reach General Availability (GA) and exit the private beta.
For now, while we’re in private beta, all features will remain free.
Our /help menu has been updated to show a [+] symbol on some menu buttons, indicating that the underlying feature will form part of HAL+ when it launches. At the time of writing this, our Comment Moderation and Chat Locks features fall under HAL+.
How much will it cost? We don’t know yet – we’ll figure it out once all features have been developed and running in the groups that currently use HAL.
When will it launch? When we're ready to exit beta and be generally-available to everyone.
If you have any preliminary questions about HAL+, please feel free to ask them in @halsupport, or by replying to this post.
——
– Our /help menu is now context-aware, and you can jump into any section of the help menu by sending “/help keyword” in DM with HAL. For example, sending “/help antispam” will take you straight to the Antispam help menu. Also, sending any /help command in a group chat will provide you with a button you can use to view the menu in private, so as to not clutter up your group chat.
– We’ve added limits to the Dedupe feature. By default, the dedupe window is 1 hour, and this could previously be set to any amount of time greater than 1 minute. With this release, the smallest window is 5 minutes, and the largest is 48 hours. We don’t imagine any more than that will be needed by any group.
– HAL now has basic support for Topics. When sending a command to HAL in a topic, HAL will now respond to you in that topic, as you’d expect it to.
——
As always, if you need help using HAL, feel free to drop us a note in @halsupport, but please check the /help menu first! 😉
HAL has just been updated with a new feature and some other relevant changes and updates.
——
Chat LocksTelegram provides the ability to toggle certain features in group chats, such as stickers, GIFs, and media. However, it’s very broad, and doesn't cover the specific needs of each group.
HAL now has the ability for group admins to add a level of precision and lock a wide range of things that may not be desired in their group. This includes things like private invite links, public chat links, @mentions, #hashtags, $CASHTAGS, and many more. You can see the entire list of and toggle chat locks by sending /chatlocks in DM with @thisishalbot. For more details on what each chat lock is for, send /chatlocktypes.
When a chat lock is turned on and a member sends something covered by that lock, then HAL will respond with a self-destructing message, informing the member that their message was deleted and why.
Deprecation Notice: The /deleteprivateinvitelinks command will continue to work, however it has been marked as deprecated and will be removed in a future release. We highly recommend turning off the deletion of private invite links (/deleteprivateinvitelinks off) and using the applicable chat lock instead.
PS: If you’re using Rose alongside HAL, and you've got locks enabled in Rose, please don't enable them in HAL as well. No point in having two bots deleting the same message…
——
Announcing our Paid Tier: HAL+This is slated to be HAL’s paid tier that will offer more functionality to groups when HAL exits beta.
Primarily, HAL is an antispam bot. However, like with all bots that intend to eventually run at scale, HAL costs money and time to maintain. At the moment, this cost is low, but it will most certainly rise as and when HAL needs to scale up to meet the demand of more groups over time.
To manage this, some of the big bots run on donations, whilst others are paid-only or run on freemium model. HAL will be taking the freemium approach, where its antispam system will be free for everyone, always, and specialised chat management features will form part of HAL+ when we reach General Availability (GA) and exit the private beta.
For now, while we’re in private beta, all features will remain free.
Our /help menu has been updated to show a [+] symbol on some menu buttons, indicating that the underlying feature will form part of HAL+ when it launches. At the time of writing this, our Comment Moderation and Chat Locks features fall under HAL+.
How much will it cost? We don’t know yet – we’ll figure it out once all features have been developed and running in the groups that currently use HAL.
When will it launch? When we're ready to exit beta and be generally-available to everyone.
If you have any preliminary questions about HAL+, please feel free to ask them in @halsupport, or by replying to this post.
——
Other Changes and Updates– Our /help menu is now context-aware, and you can jump into any section of the help menu by sending “/help keyword” in DM with HAL. For example, sending “/help antispam” will take you straight to the Antispam help menu. Also, sending any /help command in a group chat will provide you with a button you can use to view the menu in private, so as to not clutter up your group chat.
– We’ve added limits to the Dedupe feature. By default, the dedupe window is 1 hour, and this could previously be set to any amount of time greater than 1 minute. With this release, the smallest window is 5 minutes, and the largest is 48 hours. We don’t imagine any more than that will be needed by any group.
– HAL now has basic support for Topics. When sending a command to HAL in a topic, HAL will now respond to you in that topic, as you’d expect it to.
——
As always, if you need help using HAL, feel free to drop us a note in @halsupport, but please check the /help menu first! 😉
#update
HAL has been updated to function only in groups where it has the required permissions it needs to do its job.
Going forward, if a group has disabled either the “Delete Messages” or “Ban Members” permissions, then the bot will not perform its functions in that group.
HAL has been updated to function only in groups where it has the required permissions it needs to do its job.
Going forward, if a group has disabled either the “Delete Messages” or “Ban Members” permissions, then the bot will not perform its functions in that group.
Some thoughts about Telegram’s “Aggressive Filtering”
https://telescope.ac/hal/thoughts-on-telegrams-aggressive-filtering
TL;DR: Telegram's new anti-spam system leaves some serious questions unanswered and, for this reason, we question its processes and cannot safely recommend its use. Whilst we admire the effort on Telegram's part, we believe they need to provide more information to users about how it works and how it guarantees user privacy.
https://telescope.ac/hal/thoughts-on-telegrams-aggressive-filtering
TL;DR: Telegram's new anti-spam system leaves some serious questions unanswered and, for this reason, we question its processes and cannot safely recommend its use. Whilst we admire the effort on Telegram's part, we believe they need to provide more information to users about how it works and how it guarantees user privacy.
HAL went down for a bit. It’s been rebooted and is playing catchup. It might be unresponsive while it does this.
Updates (latest first)
2 Feb
30 Jan
29 Jan
Incident - 29 Jan
(times in UTC)
2 Feb
05:30: The underlying issue has been identified, and is largely out of our control. Pending some testing, we’re going to be moving HAL to a new server in the coming days. This will result in some downtime, which will be communicated ahead of time.30 Jan
15:34: Commands should be responsive now, but may fail from time to time. Getting there.14:30: Some commands may be unresponsive. We're still investigating. Spam detection continues to work.29 Jan
13:52: HAL is currently running, but may encounter issues from time to time. When this happens, it will try and self-recover and catch up on its own.12:05: Service may be intermittent. We’re working on it.11:56: Back up and running.Incident - 29 Jan
11:18: HAL is down again. Spam will need to be deleted manually until the issue is resolved.(times in UTC)