What is the difference between user_id and account_id in the User object ? Both are different and I'm looking for the unique ID of the User. { "items": [ { "user_id": 2144246, "user_type": "registered", "creation_date": 1362659682, "display_name": "Tony", "profile_image": "https://i.sstatic.net/ZEhow.jpg?s=128&g=1", "reputation": 68, "reputation_change_day": 0, "reputation_change_week": 0, "reputation_change_month": 15, "reputation_change_quarter": 25, "reputation_change_year": 67, "last_access_date": 1377435062, "last_modified_date": 1377018698, "is_employee": false, "link": "http://stackoverflow.com/users/2144246/tony", "website_url": "", "account_id": 2417804, "badge_counts": { "gold": 0, "silver": 0, "bronze": 5 } } ], "quota_remaining": 9999, "quota_max": 10000, "has_more": false }