get_user(id) cant find user - returns None (self bot discord.py)

Question

I am trying to DM myself using a self bot. I am trying to use the get_user() function in my code.

bot = commands.Bot(command_prefix='', self_bot=True)

counter = 0
userID = 695724603406024726

@bot.event
async def dm(userID):
    print('Running Function')
    global counter

    if counter <= 0:
        print('Finding user.')
        counter += 1

        user = bot.get_user(userID)

        print('user:',user)

        await user.send("Hello")
        print('message sent')

    return


bot.loop.create_task(dm(userID))
bot.run(token, bot=False)

Instead, I am returned with this error:

  File "<ipython-input-1-90e5e962a6e9>", line 24, in dm
    await user.send("Hello")
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'send'

The bot can't find the user and returns a None value. I have tested multiple ID's and am unsure what the problem is.

Answer 1

You could always use the coroutine client.fetch_user(id) to get it done. get_user() takes it from cache so when fresh, doesn't work most of the times.

In your case:

bot = commands.Bot(command_prefix='', self_bot=True)

counter = 0
userID = 695724603406024726

async def dm(userID):
    print('Running Function')
    global counter

    if counter <= 0:
        print('Finding user.')
        counter += 1

        user = await bot.fetch_user(userID)

        print('user:',user)

        await user.send("Hello")
        print('message sent')

    return


bot.loop.create_task(dm(userID))
bot.run(token, bot=False)```