Hey everyone, I’m struggling with a weird issue in my Telegram bot. I’m trying to check if users are still in a supergroup using the getChatMember method. But I’m getting USER_ID_INVALID errors for users I know exist.
Here’s what’s happening:
I call getChatMember for each user
I check if their status is ‘Left’ or ‘Kicked’
For many valid users, I get USER_ID_INVALID instead
I’ve double-checked:
These are real users
Their accounts are active
Some are still in the group, others left recently
I’m using a POST request with JSON data. The chat_id and user_id look correct to me.
Has anyone run into this before? Any ideas on what might be causing it or how to fix it?
Update: Someone suggested having the user message the bot privately. It worked for one user, but why did the bot ‘forget’ them in the first place? How can I stop this from happening again?
I’ve dealt with this frustrating issue before. One thing that helped me was implementing a retry mechanism with exponential backoff. Sometimes the Telegram API can be flaky, and a simple retry can often resolve temporary USER_ID_INVALID errors.
Another approach that worked wonders was to maintain a local database of user IDs and update it regularly. I’d sync this database with the group member list periodically using getChatMembers. This way, even if the API hiccups, you have a fallback.
Lastly, I found that using the getChat method before getChatMember can sometimes ‘wake up’ the API to recognize a user. It’s a bit of a hack, but it’s saved me more than once when dealing with stubborn USER_ID_INVALID errors.
Remember, Telegram’s infrastructure is complex, and these quirks happen. Building robust error handling and fallback systems is key to dealing with these oddities.
yo, i’ve seen this before. sometimes telegram’s api just gets weird. try using getUpdates more often to keep ur bot in the loop. also, maybe ask users to message the bot directly once in a while? that seem to refresh things.
if all else fails, u could try clearing ur bot’s cache or even restarting it. api quirks are annoying af but usually fixable with some tinkering
I’ve encountered a similar issue with the Telegram Bot API. In my experience, this often happens when the bot hasn’t interacted with the user recently or if the user’s privacy settings are strict. To mitigate this, I found it helpful to implement a caching system for user IDs and regularly update it.
One approach that worked for me was to use the getUpdates method periodically to refresh the bot’s knowledge of active users. This way, even if a user hasn’t directly interacted with the bot, you can still maintain a valid user ID.
As for the privacy settings issue, you might want to consider adding a disclaimer in your group, encouraging users to adjust their settings or interact with the bot directly if they want to be included in certain functionalities.
Remember, Telegram’s API can be a bit quirky at times, so it’s always good to have error handling and fallback mechanisms in place.