Dev Tools · 1h ago
Telegram bots appear alive to link checkers even after deletion
Deleted Telegram bots return HTTP 200 and a normal-looking page, fooling CI actions and monitoring tools. The only reliable signal is the Open Graph title, which shows a placeholder for dead bots. A simple Python script using og:title can accurately detect bot status.
Meridian48 take
A clever workaround, but the real issue is Telegram's API design—link checkers shouldn't need to parse HTML to determine resource existence.
telegram-botslink-checking