diff --git a/include/dba.php b/include/dba.php
index 5beea7a3a..138e82b58 100755
--- a/include/dba.php
+++ b/include/dba.php
@@ -207,7 +207,10 @@ function q($sql) {
 	unset($args[0]);
 
 	if($db && $db->connected) {
-		$ret = $db->q(vsprintf($sql,$args));
+		$stmt = vsprintf($sql,$args);
+		if($stmt === false)
+			logger('dba: vsprintf error: ' . print_r(debug_bracktrace(),true));
+		$ret = $db->q($stmt);
 		return $ret;
 	}
 
diff --git a/include/diaspora.php b/include/diaspora.php
index 84d28a7ec..104ccadf2 100755
--- a/include/diaspora.php
+++ b/include/diaspora.php
@@ -688,9 +688,9 @@ function diaspora_post($importer,$xml) {
 
 				// don't link tags that are already embedded in links
 
-				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)' . preg_quote($tag) . '(.*?)\]/',$body))
+				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)' . preg_quote($tag,'/') . '(.*?)\]/',$body))
 					continue;
-				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)\]\((.*?)' . preg_quote($tag) . '(.*?)\)/',$body))
+				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)\]\((.*?)' . preg_quote($tag,'/') . '(.*?)\)/',$body))
 					continue;
 
 				$basetag = str_replace('_',' ',substr($tag,1));
@@ -853,9 +853,9 @@ function diaspora_reshare($importer,$xml) {
 
 				// don't link tags that are already embedded in links
 
-				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)' . preg_quote($tag) . '(.*?)\]/',$body))
+				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)' . preg_quote($tag,'/') . '(.*?)\]/',$body))
 					continue;
-				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)\]\((.*?)' . preg_quote($tag) . '(.*?)\)/',$body))
+				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)\]\((.*?)' . preg_quote($tag,'/') . '(.*?)\)/',$body))
 					continue;
 
 
@@ -1094,9 +1094,9 @@ function diaspora_comment($importer,$xml,$msg) {
 
 				// don't link tags that are already embedded in links
 
-				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)' . preg_quote($tag) . '(.*?)\]/',$body))
+				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)' . preg_quote($tag,'/') . '(.*?)\]/',$body))
 					continue;
-				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)\]\((.*?)' . preg_quote($tag) . '(.*?)\)/',$body))
+				if(preg_match('/\[(.*?)\]\((.*?)' . preg_quote($tag,'/') . '(.*?)\)/',$body))
 					continue;
 
 
diff --git a/include/email.php b/include/email.php
index bd44cb763..b43ae0dc1 100755
--- a/include/email.php
+++ b/include/email.php
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ function email_header_encode($in_str, $charset) {
 
         // remove trailing spacer and
         // add start and end delimiters
-        $spacer = preg_quote($spacer);
+        $spacer = preg_quote($spacer,'/');
         $out_str = preg_replace("/" . $spacer . "$/", "", $out_str);
         $out_str = $start . $out_str . $end;
     }