Restrictions quietly limit what a newcomer can post for their first minutes, while the new-user guard takes an extra look at their very first messages. Together they shut down the classic join-then-spam move and leave your trusted regulars completely untouched. Restrictions never ban anyone on their own, and existing members are never affected.
Want to set this up? Do it right in your Telm account.
Open in your dashboard1What restrictions do
Most group spam comes from accounts that joined seconds ago, drop a link, a contact or a forwarded ad, and vanish. New member restrictions cover exactly that high-risk window so newcomers cannot fire off spam the instant they arrive.
Turn them on and anyone who just joined gets a reduced set of permissions for a set time. When the timer runs out, or an admin lifts it sooner, full posting rights come back automatically with nothing for you to do.
2Why the first few minutes matter
Spam runs on speed. A scripted account joins dozens of groups, fires the same message everywhere and moves on before a moderator is even awake. Make it wait, and a drive-by account simply gives up.
A short, quiet delay between joining and posting takes away the one thing drive-by spammers count on: instant reach. A real person barely notices a 30 to 60 minute limit, while an automated account loses the head start it depends on.
3The new-user guard
Alongside the hard restrictions, the new-user guard gives a newcomer's first messages an extra look. It is tuned for the join, drop a contact or link, then leave pattern that simple keyword filters miss.
The guard is on by default and pairs neatly with restrictions: the guard reads what a newcomer actually says, while restrictions limit what kinds of messages they can send at all. One weighs intent, the other narrows the opening.
4Scope and duration
You decide exactly what a newcomer cannot do while restricted, such as sending media, adding link previews, posting polls or inviting others. Blocking media and links alone stops the overwhelming majority of newcomer spam while real people can still chat in plain text.
Duration is set in minutes and defaults to 60. Set it to 0 to keep newcomers restricted until an admin lifts the limit by hand, which suits invite-only or high-value communities where every member is vetted personally.
- Restriction duration range: 0 (manual lift) up to 10080 minutes, which is 7 days.
- Common choice: 30 to 60 minutes is enough to stop drive-by spammers while barely inconveniencing real people.
- Text-only groups can restrict media and links for the whole window with almost no downside.
- For strict communities, a duration of 0 means every newcomer waits for a human before they can post freely.
5Typical setups
There is no single right configuration. The best settings depend on how public your group is and how much newcomer noise you are willing to tolerate.
- Public crypto or trading chat under constant spam: restrict media, links and forwards for 60 minutes, keep the new-user guard on, and add a verification step.
- Friendly hobby community: keep the new-user guard on, add a light 15 to 30 minute media restriction, and skip anything stricter.
- Support or announcements group: set duration to 0 so newcomers cannot post until a moderator clears them.
- Very large active group: shorter windows of 15 to 30 minutes avoid a backlog of restricted members while still filtering the fastest bots.
6Best practices
Restrictions are a blunt but dependable tool. Combine them with a verification step and content moderation and you get defence in depth instead of leaning on any single layer.
- Layer restrictions with a verification step so bots are stopped before the timer even matters.
- Block media and links first, since those carry almost all newcomer spam, before considering harsher limits.
- Start with the 60 minute default and shorten it only if real members complain about the wait.
- Whitelist or trust known regulars so returning members are never caught by the guard.
7Common mistakes
The feature is forgiving, but a few misconfigurations reduce its value or annoy real members.
- Setting duration to 0 without an active moderator team, which leaves genuine newcomers stuck unable to post.
- Restricting plain text as well as media, which blocks real conversation for no security gain.
- Turning restrictions off during a raid instead of leaning on the anti-raid shield to tighten things automatically.
- Assuming restrictions ban spammers. They do not remove anyone on their own; pair them with moderation to actually eject bad accounts.
9Where to configure
Open your group in the dashboard, go to the New members section, and use the New user policies card to toggle restrictions, pick the blocked actions and set the duration.
If you are just getting started, the protection presets apply sensible newcomer restrictions in one click, and the onboarding wizard walks you through them.