Bouldering Gym Telegram Groups: A One-Page Admin Card
Climbing gyms often run a Telegram group for members: new problem sets, meetups, route-setting nights, and partners for outdoor trips. This card is a quick reference for whoever moderates one.
Disclosure: made by the 虾宝 (Xiabao) team, who make a spam-cleaning Telegram bot; group owners pay nothing for it.
Watch for
- Membership "shares". Offers to split or sell a gym membership or a ten-visit pass. Many gyms forbid it, and the seller often never hands over anything.
- Second-hand gear with no history. Cheap crash pads and harnesses from brand-new accounts, deposit first. Used harnesses and ropes of unknown age are also a safety risk.
- Fake outdoor guides. Accounts selling "guided" trips to a crag, payment upfront, no qualifications to show.
- Link spam dropped after a popular reset announcement, when the chat is busiest.
Rules on the pin
- Pass and membership resale is not allowed in the group.
- Gear sales include the manufacture date; no sales of used soft goods like harnesses and slings.
- Outdoor trips are organised by members, for free, with costs split openly.
- Join requests ask: "Which gym do you climb at?"
Automate the rest
Set routes, not spam filters. Xiabao, which is free for group owners, deletes ad and scam messages on its own and leaves beta discussion alone. See Xiabao for climbing gym and sports groups for setup.