Group Settings Help please

Hello,
I am trying desperately to change my group
setting so that people can join. I put it to
hidden as spam bots were starting to show
everywhere, and got rid of them. Now some
of my friends can not join, as it says that
the administrator is not accepting members
at this time. How do I change the settings
so it says permission needed, and also, I have
been looking for an invite link with no luck.
What am I missing, and doing wrong.
Also, my group settings will not allow me to
put it back to open group, will only allow
hidden or closed on the settings.
Thank you for anyone that can help.
Hugs...............Dee

You made your forum locked for new members.

Admin Panel>>User & Groups>> User Options find allow new members>>Yes

Also Bold and Big letters are for staff only.

Bots dont do anything to your forum. They just look at your forum and put it on their search engine. They dont harm your forum in anyway.

Thank you so much for the help.
This is now solved.
Hugs.........Dee