Name and nickname returned are the same for group members

Question

This is my request code:

data = requests.get(
    f"https://api.groupme.com/v3/groups/{group_id}?token=token123"
).json()['response']

Which returns something along the lines of this:

"members": [{
  "name": "Capn Jack",
  "nickname": "Capn Jack"
}]

I was originally receiving an output like this, which I would expect:

"members": [{
  "name": "Jack Doe",
  "nickname": "Capn Jack"
}]

Does anyone know why the api wouldnt be returning the proper name for the member in my group? Is there anyway to get a consistent name for members of a group that isnt affected by a nickname change?

Answer 1

This is how the API works. I've never been able to actually get the real names of the members in the group.

If you're doing data analysis I recommend using the user_id value and comparing that to messages sent, then swapping out their user_id for their name before you visualize it in anyways.