Dear User
A Dear User is an incomplete user on your Users dashboard. They are incomplete because the platform is not able to retrieve their profile information from their respective channel. They are identifiable by their first name as Dear User
BotDistrikt calls them Dear User by default because when your bot references their first name in a story, the user receives a friendly, non-artificial-looking message anyway.
A story referencing a user's name like this:
appears in a generic (friendly) manner like this, even if the bot cannot retrieve their first name.
Why
They exist for various reasons on different channels. The reasons are listed below
Telegram
A user without a name becomes a Dear User, because names are optional on Telegram.
Instagram
A user without a name becomes a Dear User, because names are optional on Instagram.
Facebook Messenger
The Facebook Messenger channel includes several plugins which each function on the basis that a user opts in to receive automated responses from the bot.
A user who opts in via a plugin becomes a Dear User.
Facebook does not allow a bot to retrieve a user's public profile information without their consent.
How to get a user's consent
A user consents to give their public profile information when they send a reply to any of the bot's responses. When a user replies, the platform automatically upgrades them from a Dear User to a normal user, allowing you to fetch these fields by refreshing their profile
Profile Picture
First Name
Last Name
Gender (if this feature is approved for your page)
Locale (if this feature is approved for your page)
Timezone (if this feature is approved for your page)
The upgrade processes or each plugin is described below
| Plugin | A Dear User appears | They are upgraded |
|---|---|---|
Facebook Chat Plugin | when a user clicks the "Continue as [NAME]" or "Continue as Guest" button your Chat widget | when they reply, or click on a quick reply or story button from your bot's responses |
Facebook Checkbox Plugin | when a user checks the checkbox on on your website form | when they reply, or click on a quick reply or story button from your bot's responses |
Facebook Private Replies | when a user replies to any of your page's Facebook Posts marked for Comment-to-Messenger | when they reply, or click on a quick reply or story button from your bot's responses |
Login Connect with Messenger | when a user clicks on the Login with Facebook button your website, and allows your page to contact them via Messenger | when they reply, or click on a quick reply or story button from your bot's responses |
Quick replies and buttons are a great way to entice a reply, and therefore an upgrade.
Multiple Dear Users for the same person
When using multiple Facebook plugins, it is possible for multiple Dear Users to coexist for the same person.
It is also possible for one person to be a normal user and a Dear User simultaneously.
The fix? Entice your users to reply to your bot, because older Dear Users of the same person automatically get hard-deleted during an upgrade.
It is highly encouraged to entice your users to reply to your bot. This ensures that your billing plan accounts for exactly the same number of persons actually using your bot.
Skype
When your bot is added to a group on Skype, it becomes a Dear User.
However, they will be called a different name - "Channel by [NAME]", where [NAME] is the name of the member who added your bot to their group.
Manual Upgrade
It is possible for you to upgrade users from a Dear User to a normal user manually if you have their profile information readily available yourself. You may upgrade users via
User Profile
You may enter a user profile page and edit their first name, last name, and upload their profile picture manually
Forms
You may create a Form that asks a user to set their first_name, last_name, and upload their profile_pic like this
If you prefer not to use Forms, you may also set these fields manually in your own stories
API
You may use the patchAttributes or the upsertWithWhere bot user API endpoints to upgrade a user in an automated workflow from your own external systems.
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