diff --git a/include/poller.php b/include/poller.php
index 9362c28b31..cb24615848 100644
--- a/include/poller.php
+++ b/include/poller.php
@@ -165,11 +165,15 @@ function poller_run($argv, $argc){
 				if(intval($contact['duplex']) && $contact['dfrn-id'])
 					$idtosend = '0:' . $orig_id;
 				if(intval($contact['duplex']) && $contact['issued-id'])
-					$idtosend = '1:' . $orig_id;		
+					$idtosend = '1:' . $orig_id;
+
+				// they have permission to write to us. We already filtered this in the contact query.
+				$perm = 'rw';
 
 				$url = $contact['poll'] . '?dfrn_id=' . $idtosend 
 					. '&dfrn_version=' . DFRN_PROTOCOL_VERSION 
-					. '&type=data&last_update=' . $last_update ;
+					. '&type=data&last_update=' . $last_update 
+					. '&perm=' . $perm ;
 	
 				$xml = fetch_url($url);
 
@@ -250,13 +254,14 @@ function poller_run($argv, $argc){
 					$final_dfrn_id = substr($final_dfrn_id,2);
 
 				if($final_dfrn_id != $orig_id) {
-	
+					logger('poller: ID did not decode: ' . $contact['id'] . ' orig: ' . $orig_id . ' final: ' . $final_dfrn_id);	
 					// did not decode properly - cannot trust this site 
 					continue;
 				}
 
 				$postvars['dfrn_id'] = $idtosend;
 				$postvars['dfrn_version'] = DFRN_PROTOCOL_VERSION;
+				$postvars['perm'] = 'rw';
 
 				$xml = post_url($contact['poll'],$postvars);
 			}
diff --git a/mod/dfrn_notify.php b/mod/dfrn_notify.php
index dd6866b385..f6f68d348c 100644
--- a/mod/dfrn_notify.php
+++ b/mod/dfrn_notify.php
@@ -80,6 +80,14 @@ function dfrn_notify_post(&$a) {
 
 	$importer = $r[0];
 
+	if(($writable != (-1)) && ($writable != $importer['writable'])) {
+		q("UPDATE `contact` SET `writable` = %d WHERE `id` = %d LIMIT 1",
+			intval($writable),
+			intval($importer['id'])
+		);
+		$importer['writable'] = $writable;
+	}
+
 	logger('dfrn_notify: received notify from ' . $importer['name'] . ' for ' . $importer['username']);
 	logger('dfrn_notify: data: ' . $data, LOGGER_DATA);
 
@@ -124,8 +132,6 @@ function dfrn_notify_post(&$a) {
 	}
 
 
-
-
 	if($importer['readonly']) {
 		// We aren't receiving stuff from this person. But we will quietly ignore them
 		// rather than a blatant "go away" message.
diff --git a/mod/dfrn_poll.php b/mod/dfrn_poll.php
index a2fdb9ee13..d68841d05d 100644
--- a/mod/dfrn_poll.php
+++ b/mod/dfrn_poll.php
@@ -297,6 +297,7 @@ function dfrn_poll_post(&$a) {
 	if(! count($r))
 		killme();
 
+	$contact = $r[0];
 	$owner_uid = $r[0]['uid'];
 	$contact_id = $r[0]['id']; 
 
@@ -330,6 +331,23 @@ function dfrn_poll_post(&$a) {
 		// NOTREACHED
 	}
 	else {
+
+		// Update the writable flag if it changed		
+
+		if($dfrn_version >= 2.21) {
+			if($perm === 'rw')
+				$writable = 1;
+			else
+				$writable = 0;
+
+			if($writable !=  $contact['writable]) {
+				q("UPDATE `contact` SET `writable` = %d WHERE `id` = %d LIMIT 1",
+					intval($writable),
+					intval($contact_id)
+				);
+			}
+		}				
+
 		header("Content-type: application/atom+xml");
 		$o = get_feed_for($a,$dfrn_id, $a->argv[1], $last_update, $direction);
 		echo $o;