diff --git a/include/message.php b/include/message.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cca913b4ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/message.php
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+<?php
+	// send a private message
+	
+
+
+
+function send_message($recipient=0, $body='', $subject='', $replyto=''){ 
+	$a = get_app();
+
+	if(! $recipient) return -1;
+	
+	if(! strlen($subject))
+		$subject = t('[no subject]');
+
+	$me = q("SELECT * FROM `contact` WHERE `uid` = %d AND `self` = 1 LIMIT 1",
+		intval(local_user())
+	);
+	$contact = q("SELECT * FROM `contact` WHERE `id` = %d AND `uid` = %d LIMIT 1",
+			intval($recipient),
+			intval(local_user())
+	);
+
+	if(! (count($me) && (count($contact)))) {
+		return -2;
+	}
+
+	$hash = random_string();
+ 	$uri = 'urn:X-dfrn:' . $a->get_baseurl() . ':' . local_user() . ':' . $hash ;
+
+	if(! strlen($replyto))
+		$replyto = $uri;
+
+	$r = q("INSERT INTO `mail` ( `uid`, `from-name`, `from-photo`, `from-url`, 
+		`contact-id`, `title`, `body`, `seen`, `replied`, `uri`, `parent-uri`, `created`)
+		VALUES ( %d, '%s', '%s', '%s', %d, '%s', '%s', %d, %d, '%s', '%s', '%s' )",
+		intval(local_user()),
+		dbesc($me[0]['name']),
+		dbesc($me[0]['thumb']),
+		dbesc($me[0]['url']),
+		intval($recipient),
+		dbesc($subject),
+		dbesc($body),
+		1,
+		0,
+		dbesc($uri),
+		dbesc($replyto),
+		datetime_convert()
+	);
+	$r = q("SELECT * FROM `mail` WHERE `uri` = '%s' and `uid` = %d LIMIT 1",
+		dbesc($uri),
+		intval(local_user())
+	);
+	if(count($r))
+		$post_id = $r[0]['id'];
+
+	/**
+	 *
+	 * When a photo was uploaded into the message using the (profile wall) ajax 
+	 * uploader, The permissions are initially set to disallow anybody but the
+	 * owner from seeing it. This is because the permissions may not yet have been
+	 * set for the post. If it's private, the photo permissions should be set
+	 * appropriately. But we didn't know the final permissions on the post until
+	 * now. So now we'll look for links of uploaded messages that are in the
+	 * post and set them to the same permissions as the post itself.
+	 *
+	 */
+
+	$match = null;
+
+	if(preg_match_all("/\[img\](.*?)\[\/img\]/",$body,$match)) {
+		$images = $match[1];
+		if(count($images)) {
+			foreach($images as $image) {
+				if(! stristr($image,$a->get_baseurl() . '/photo/'))
+					continue;
+				$image_uri = substr($image,strrpos($image,'/') + 1);
+				$image_uri = substr($image_uri,0, strpos($image_uri,'-'));
+				$r = q("UPDATE `photo` SET `allow_cid` = '%s'
+					WHERE `resource-id` = '%s' AND `album` = '%s' AND `uid` = %d ",
+					dbesc('<' . $recipient . '>'),
+					dbesc($image_uri),
+					dbesc( t('Wall Photos')),
+					intval(local_user())
+				); 
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	
+	if($post_id) {
+		proc_run('php',"include/notifier.php","mail","$post_id");
+		return intval($post_id);
+	} else {
+		return -3;
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/mod/message.php b/mod/message.php
index ad598eb7d0..165d638141 100644
--- a/mod/message.php
+++ b/mod/message.php
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <?php
 
 require_once('include/acl_selectors.php');
+require_once('include/message.php');
 
 function message_post(&$a) {
 
@@ -14,97 +15,22 @@ function message_post(&$a) {
 	$body      = ((x($_POST,'body'))      ? escape_tags(trim($_POST['body'])) : '');
 	$recipient = ((x($_POST,'messageto')) ? intval($_POST['messageto'])       : 0 );
 
-	if(! $recipient) {
-		notice( t('No recipient selected.') . EOL );
-		return;
-	}
-
-	if(! strlen($subject))
-		$subject = t('[no subject]');
-
-	$me = q("SELECT * FROM `contact` WHERE `uid` = %d AND `self` = 1 LIMIT 1",
-		intval(local_user())
-	);
-	$contact = q("SELECT * FROM `contact` WHERE `id` = %d AND `uid` = %d LIMIT 1",
-			intval($recipient),
-			intval(local_user())
-	);
-
-	if(! (count($me) && (count($contact)))) {
-		notice( t('Unable to locate contact information.') . EOL );
-		return;
-	}
-
-	$hash = random_string();
- 	$uri = 'urn:X-dfrn:' . $a->get_baseurl() . ':' . local_user() . ':' . $hash ;
-
-	if(! strlen($replyto))
-		$replyto = $uri;
-
-	$r = q("INSERT INTO `mail` ( `uid`, `from-name`, `from-photo`, `from-url`, 
-		`contact-id`, `title`, `body`, `seen`, `replied`, `uri`, `parent-uri`, `created`)
-		VALUES ( %d, '%s', '%s', '%s', %d, '%s', '%s', %d, %d, '%s', '%s', '%s' )",
-		intval(local_user()),
-		dbesc($me[0]['name']),
-		dbesc($me[0]['thumb']),
-		dbesc($me[0]['url']),
-		intval($recipient),
-		dbesc($subject),
-		dbesc($body),
-		1,
-		0,
-		dbesc($uri),
-		dbesc($replyto),
-		datetime_convert()
-	);
-	$r = q("SELECT * FROM `mail` WHERE `uri` = '%s' and `uid` = %d LIMIT 1",
-		dbesc($uri),
-		intval(local_user())
-	);
-	if(count($r))
-		$post_id = $r[0]['id'];
-
-	/**
-	 *
-	 * When a photo was uploaded into the message using the (profile wall) ajax 
-	 * uploader, The permissions are initially set to disallow anybody but the
-	 * owner from seeing it. This is because the permissions may not yet have been
-	 * set for the post. If it's private, the photo permissions should be set
-	 * appropriately. But we didn't know the final permissions on the post until
-	 * now. So now we'll look for links of uploaded messages that are in the
-	 * post and set them to the same permissions as the post itself.
-	 *
-	 */
-
-	$match = null;
-
-	if(preg_match_all("/\[img\](.*?)\[\/img\]/",$body,$match)) {
-		$images = $match[1];
-		if(count($images)) {
-			foreach($images as $image) {
-				if(! stristr($image,$a->get_baseurl() . '/photo/'))
-					continue;
-				$image_uri = substr($image,strrpos($image,'/') + 1);
-				$image_uri = substr($image_uri,0, strpos($image_uri,'-'));
-				$r = q("UPDATE `photo` SET `allow_cid` = '%s'
-					WHERE `resource-id` = '%s' AND `album` = '%s' AND `uid` = %d ",
-					dbesc('<' . $recipient . '>'),
-					dbesc($image_uri),
-					dbesc( t('Wall Photos')),
-					intval(local_user())
-				); 
-			}
-		}
-	}
 	
-	if($post_id) {
-		proc_run('php',"include/notifier.php","mail","$post_id");
-		info( t('Message sent.') . EOL );
+	$ret = send_message($recipient, $body, $subject, $replyto);
+
+	switch($ret){
+		case -1:
+			notice( t('No recipient selected.') . EOL );
+			break;
+		case -2:
+			notice( t('Unable to locate contact information.') . EOL );
+			break;
+		case -3:
+			notice( t('Message could not be sent.') . EOL );
+		default:
+			info( t('Message sent.') . EOL );
 	}
-	else {
-		notice( t('Message could not be sent.') . EOL );
-	}
-	return;
+
 }
 
 function message_content(&$a) {