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Methodology

What the labels, lists and rankings on DuckSeek mean, and where each one comes from. Data sources and contacts are on the about page.

Labels

  • 18+ and Risky come from the source listing and DuckSeek's own classification. Both are left out of lists; search shows them only when you turn them on.
  • Unlisted means the entry was removed from lists and search. Bots, Mini Apps and sticker packs keep a page that says so, so links to them don't break; channels are removed outright.
  • Dead means a Telegram lookup did not find the bot or Mini App: a daily job has checked apps this way since 2025, and a checker that also covers channels and sticker sets is being rolled out. Broken means a sticker set could not be fetched or decoded. No page shows a “checked” date until that checker has run.

Alternatives

The similar entries on a page are the nearest neighbours by description embeddings: the top 5, deduplicated, under the same filters as search. They are computed, not picked by hand.

Popular

Explore ranks mini apps and sticker packs by views on DuckSeek, and channels by members. “New” lists what was added in the last 30 days.

DuckSeek Score

Not published yet. When it is, it will combine uptime from the checker, recency, member trend and original-vs-duplicate status; the formula will be on this page and pages will show “Score as of” the date it was computed. It will never be marked up as a rating.

Sponsored placements and verification

At most one paid placement per Explore list, labelled “Ad” and linked with rel="sponsored". Payment buys one pinned spot on an Explore list, labelled Ad. Answers, alternatives and assistant results ignore it: a paying entry can still appear there on merit, without a label. The Verified badge means the owner proved control of the bot or channel by putting a one-time DuckSeek code in its Telegram description (see /owner). It is never sold, never required for listing, and changes no ranking.

What DuckSeek does not do

  • No AI-written listings: descriptions are copied from Telegram.
  • No fake counts: member and view numbers are what the source and DuckSeek recorded.
  • No status claims before the checker writes them.