diff --git a/boot.php b/boot.php
index 509fe22878..c8722caa7b 100644
--- a/boot.php
+++ b/boot.php
@@ -2365,4 +2365,45 @@ function feed_birthday($uid,$tz) {
 	}
 
 	return $birthday;
-}}
\ No newline at end of file
+}}
+
+/**
+ * return atom link elements for all of our hubs
+ */
+
+if(! function_exists('feed_hublinks')) {
+function feed_hublinks() {
+
+	$hub = get_config('system','huburl');
+
+	$hubxml = '';
+	if(strlen($hub)) {
+		$hubs = explode(',', $hub);
+		if(count($hubs)) {
+			foreach($hubs as $h) {
+				$h = trim($h);
+				if(! strlen($h))
+					continue;
+				$hubxml .= '<link rel="hub" href="' . xmlify($h) . '" />' . "\n" ;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return $hubxml;
+}}
+
+/* return atom link elements for salmon endpoints */
+
+if(! function_exists('feed_salmonlinks')) {
+function feed_salmonlinks($nick) {
+
+	$a = get_app();
+
+	$salmon  = '<link rel="salmon" href="' . xmlify($a->get_baseurl() . '/salmon/' . $nick) . '" />' . "\n" ;
+
+	// old style links that status.net still needed as of 12/2010 
+
+	$salmon .= '  <link rel="http://salmon-protocol.org/ns/salmon-replies" href="' . xmlify($a->get_baseurl() . '/salmon/' . $nick) . '" />' . "\n" ; 
+	$salmon .= '  <link rel="http://salmon-protocol.org/ns/salmon-mention" href="' . xmlify($a->get_baseurl() . '/salmon/' . $nick) . '" />' . "\n" ; 
+	return $salmon;
+}}
+
diff --git a/include/items.php b/include/items.php
index 5b99ca1714..9c29e65586 100644
--- a/include/items.php
+++ b/include/items.php
@@ -9,37 +9,27 @@ function get_feed_for(&$a, $dfrn_id, $owner_nick, $last_update, $direction = 0)
 
 	// default permissions - anonymous user
 
-	$sql_extra = " 
-		AND `allow_cid` = '' 
-		AND `allow_gid` = '' 
-		AND `deny_cid`  = '' 
-		AND `deny_gid`  = '' 
-	";
-
-	if(strlen($owner_nick) && ! intval($owner_nick)) {
-		$r = q("SELECT `uid`, `nickname`, `timezone` FROM `user` WHERE `nickname` = '%s' LIMIT 1",
-			dbesc($owner_nick)
-		);
-		if(count($r)) {
-			$owner_id = $r[0]['uid'];
-			$owner_nick = $r[0]['nickname'];
-			$owner_tz = $r[0]['timezone'];
-		}
-	}
-
-	$r = q("SELECT * FROM `contact` WHERE `self` = 1 AND `uid` = %d LIMIT 1",
-		intval($owner_id)
-	);
-	if(count($r)) {
-		$owner = $r[0];
-		$owner['nickname'] = $owner_nick;
-	}
-	else
+	if(! strlen($owner_nick))
 		killme();
 
-	$birthday = feed_birthday($owner_id,$owner_tz);
+	$sql_extra = " AND `allow_cid` = '' AND `allow_gid` = '' AND `deny_cid`  = '' AND `deny_gid`  = '' ";
 
-	if($dfrn_id && $dfrn_id != '*') {
+	$r = q("SELECT `contact`.*, `user`.`uid` AS `user_uid`, `user`.`nickname`, `user`.`timezone`
+		FROM `contact` LEFT JOIN `user` ON `user`.`uid` = `contact`.`uid`
+		WHERE `contact`.`self` = 1 AND `user`.`nickname` = '%s' LIMIT 1",
+		dbesc($owner_nick)
+	);
+
+	if(! count($r))
+		killme();
+
+	$owner = $r[0];
+	$owner_id = $owner['user_uid'];
+	$owner_nick = $owner['nickname'];
+
+	$birthday = feed_birthday($owner_id,$owner['timezone']);
+
+	if(strlen($dfrn_id)) {
 
 		$sql_extra = '';
 		switch($direction) {
@@ -65,7 +55,7 @@ function get_feed_for(&$a, $dfrn_id, $owner_nick, $last_update, $direction = 0)
 		);
 
 		if(! count($r))
-			return false;
+			killme();
 
 		$contact = $r[0];
 		$groups = init_groups_visitor($contact['id']);
@@ -119,7 +109,7 @@ function get_feed_for(&$a, $dfrn_id, $owner_nick, $last_update, $direction = 0)
 	);
 
 	// Will check further below if this actually returned results.
-	// We will provide an empty feed in any case.
+	// We will provide an empty feed if that is the case.
 
 	$items = $r;
 
@@ -127,25 +117,9 @@ function get_feed_for(&$a, $dfrn_id, $owner_nick, $last_update, $direction = 0)
 
 	$atom = '';
 
-	$hub = get_config('system','huburl');
-
-	$hubxml = '';
-	if(strlen($hub)) {
-		$hubs = explode(',', $hub);
-		if(count($hubs)) {
-			foreach($hubs as $h) {
-				$h = trim($h);
-				if(! strlen($h))
-					continue;
-				$hubxml .= '<link rel="hub" href="' . xmlify($h) . '" />' . "\n" ;
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
-	$salmon = '<link rel="salmon" href="' . xmlify($a->get_baseurl() . '/salmon/' . $owner_nick) . '" />' . "\n" ; 
-	$salmon .= '<link rel="http://salmon-protocol.org/ns/salmon-replies" href="' . xmlify($a->get_baseurl() . '/salmon/' . $owner_nick) . '" />' . "\n" ; 
-	$salmon .= '<link rel="http://salmon-protocol.org/ns/salmon-mention" href="' . xmlify($a->get_baseurl() . '/salmon/' . $owner_nick) . '" />' . "\n" ; 
+	$hubxml = feed_hublinks();
 
+	$salmon = feed_salmonlinks($owner_nick);
 
 	$atom .= replace_macros($feed_template, array(
 		'$version'      => xmlify(FRIENDIKA_VERSION),
@@ -178,7 +152,7 @@ function get_feed_for(&$a, $dfrn_id, $owner_nick, $last_update, $direction = 0)
 
 		// public feeds get html, our own nodes use bbcode
 
-		if($dfrn_id === '*') {
+		if($dfrn_id === '') {
 			$type = 'html';
 		}
 		else {
diff --git a/include/notifier.php b/include/notifier.php
index ca0aa0df38..b6c4ca5712 100644
--- a/include/notifier.php
+++ b/include/notifier.php
@@ -179,23 +179,13 @@ function notifier_run($argv, $argc){
 	$mail_template = load_view_file('view/atom_mail.tpl');
 
 	$atom = '';
-	$hubxml = '';
 	$slaps = array();
 
-	if(strlen($hub)) {
-		$hubs = explode(',', $hub);
-		if(count($hubs)) {
-			foreach($hubs as $h) {
-				$h = trim($h);
-				if(! strlen($h))
-					continue;
-				$hubxml .= '<link rel="hub" href="' . xmlify($h) . '" />' . "\n" ;
-			}
-		}
-	}
+	$hubxml = feed_hublinks();
 
 	$birthday = feed_birthday($owner['uid'],$owner['timezone']);
-	if($birthday)
+
+	if(strlen($birthday))
 		$birthday = '<dfrn:birthday>' . xmlify($birthday) . '</dfrn:birthday>';
 
 	$atom .= replace_macros($feed_template, array(
@@ -398,7 +388,7 @@ function notifier_run($argv, $argc){
 		 *
 		 */
 
-		$max_allowed = ((get_config('system','maxpubdeliver') === false) ? 150 : intval(get_config('system','maxdeliver')));
+		$max_allowed = ((get_config('system','maxpubdeliver') === false) ? 150 : intval(get_config('system','maxpubdeliver')));
 				
 		/**
 		 *
diff --git a/mod/dfrn_poll.php b/mod/dfrn_poll.php
index 85e7fc0afd..334e103079 100644
--- a/mod/dfrn_poll.php
+++ b/mod/dfrn_poll.php
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ function dfrn_poll_init(&$a) {
 	if(($dfrn_id === '') && (! x($_POST,'dfrn_id')) && ($a->argc > 1)) {
 		logger('dfrn_poll: public feed request from ' . $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] );
 		header("Content-type: application/atom+xml");
-		$o = get_feed_for($a, '*', $a->argv[1],$last_update);
+		$o = get_feed_for($a, '', $a->argv[1],$last_update);
 		echo $o;
 		killme();
 	}