diff --git a/include/delivery.php b/include/delivery.php
index 8318be4ddf..a9e629fcfb 100644
--- a/include/delivery.php
+++ b/include/delivery.php
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 <?php
 require_once("boot.php");
+require_once('include/queue_fn.php');
 
 function delivery_run($argv, $argc){
 	global $a, $db;
@@ -323,14 +324,7 @@ function delivery_run($argv, $argc){
 	
 			if($deliver_status == (-1)) {
 				logger('notifier: delivery failed: queuing message');
-				// queue message for redelivery
-				q("INSERT INTO `queue` ( `cid`, `created`, `last`, `content`)
-					VALUES ( %d, '%s', '%s', '%s') ",
-					intval($contact['id']),
-					dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-					dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-					dbesc($atom)
-				);
+				add_to_queue($contact['id'],NETWORK_DFRN,$atom);
 			}
 			break;
 
@@ -370,13 +364,7 @@ function delivery_run($argv, $argc){
 						$deliver_status = slapper($owner,$contact['notify'],$slappy);
 						if($deliver_status == (-1)) {
 							// queue message for redelivery
-							q("INSERT INTO `queue` ( `cid`, `created`, `last`, `content`)
-								VALUES ( %d, '%s', '%s', '%s') ",
-								intval($contact['id']),
-								dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-								dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-								dbesc($slappy)
-							);								
+							add_to_queue($contact['id'],NETWORK_OSTATUS,$slappy);
 						}
 					}
 				}
diff --git a/include/diaspora.php b/include/diaspora.php
index 89707967f3..fa5973e7b9 100644
--- a/include/diaspora.php
+++ b/include/diaspora.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ require_once('include/crypto.php');
 require_once('include/items.php');
 require_once('include/bb2diaspora.php');
 require_once('include/contact_selectors.php');
+require_once('include/queue_fn.php');
 
 
 function diaspora_dispatch_public($msg) {
@@ -957,7 +958,7 @@ function diaspora_comment($importer,$xml,$msg) {
 		);
 	}
 
-	if(! $parent_author_signature) {
+	if(($parent_item['origin']) && (! $parent_author_signature)) {
 		q("insert into sign (`iid`,`signed_text`,`signature`,`signer`) values (%d,'%s','%s','%s') ",
 			intval($message_id),
 			dbesc($author_signed_data),
@@ -1162,9 +1163,9 @@ EOT;
 	$arr['parent'] = $parent_item['id'];
 	$arr['parent-uri'] = $parent_item['uri'];
 
-	$arr['owner-name'] = $contact['name'];
-	$arr['owner-link'] = $contact['url'];
-	$arr['owner-avatar'] = $contact['thumb'];
+	$arr['owner-name'] = $parent_item['name'];
+	$arr['owner-link'] = $parent_item['url'];
+	$arr['owner-avatar'] = $parent_item['thumb'];
 
 	$arr['author-name'] = $person['name'];
 	$arr['author-link'] = $person['url'];
@@ -1206,9 +1207,9 @@ EOT;
 
 	// if the message isn't already being relayed, notify others
 	// the existence of parent_author_signature means the parent_author or owner
-	// is already relaying.
+	// is already relaying. The parent_item['origin'] indicates the message was created on our system
 
-	if(! $parent_author_signature)
+	if(($parent_item['origin']) && (! $parent_author_signature))
 		proc_run('php','include/notifier.php','comment',$message_id);
 
 	return;
@@ -1647,14 +1648,7 @@ function diaspora_transmit($owner,$contact,$slap,$public_batch) {
 	if((! $return_code) || (($curl_stat == 503) && (stristr($a->get_curl_headers(),'retry-after')))) {
 		logger('diaspora_transmit: queue message');
 		// queue message for redelivery
-		q("INSERT INTO `queue` ( `cid`, `created`, `last`, `content`,`batch`)
-			VALUES ( %d, '%s', '%s', '%s', %d) ",
-			intval($contact['id']),
-			dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-			dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-			dbesc($slap),
-			intval($public_batch)
-		);
+		add_to_queue($contact['id'],NETWORK_DIASPORA,$slap,$public_batch);
 	}
 
 
diff --git a/include/notifier.php b/include/notifier.php
index 18ad070120..d12119b05f 100644
--- a/include/notifier.php
+++ b/include/notifier.php
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <?php
 
 require_once("boot.php");
+require_once('include/queue_fn.php');
 
 /*
  * This file was at one time responsible for doing all deliveries, but this caused
@@ -519,13 +520,7 @@ function notifier_run($argv, $argc){
 					if($deliver_status == (-1)) {
 						logger('notifier: delivery failed: queuing message');
 						// queue message for redelivery
-						q("INSERT INTO `queue` ( `cid`, `created`, `last`, `content`)
-							VALUES ( %d, '%s', '%s', '%s') ",
-							intval($contact['id']),
-							dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-							dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-							dbesc($atom)
-						);
+						add_to_queue($contact['id'],NETWORK_DFRN,$atom);
 					}
 					break;
 				case NETWORK_OSTATUS:
@@ -542,14 +537,7 @@ function notifier_run($argv, $argc){
 
 						if($deliver_status == (-1)) {
 							// queue message for redelivery
-							q("INSERT INTO `queue` ( `cid`, `created`, `last`, `content`)
-								VALUES ( %d, '%s', '%s', '%s') ",
-								intval($contact['id']),
-								dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-								dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-								dbesc($slap)
-							);
-
+							add_to_queue($contact['id'],NETWORK_OSTATUS,$slap);
 						}
 					}
 					else {
@@ -564,13 +552,7 @@ function notifier_run($argv, $argc){
 									$deliver_status = slapper($owner,$contact['notify'],$slappy);
 									if($deliver_status == (-1)) {
 										// queue message for redelivery
-										q("INSERT INTO `queue` ( `cid`, `created`, `last`, `content`)
-											VALUES ( %d, '%s', '%s', '%s') ",
-											intval($contact['id']),
-											dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-											dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-											dbesc($slappy)
-										);								
+										add_to_queue($contact['id'],NETWORK_OSTATUS,$slappy);
 									}
 								}
 							}
diff --git a/include/profile_update.php b/include/profile_update.php
index 1a2d9d3b57..3828e90edc 100644
--- a/include/profile_update.php
+++ b/include/profile_update.php
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 require_once('include/datetime.php');
 require_once('include/diaspora.php');
+require_once('include/queue_fn.php');
 
 function profile_change() {
 
@@ -81,7 +82,6 @@ function profile_change() {
 
 	$tpl = get_markup_template('diaspora_profile.tpl');
 
-
 	$msg = replace_macros($tpl,array(
 		'$handle' => $handle,
 		'$first' => $first,
@@ -100,14 +100,6 @@ function profile_change() {
 
 	$msgtosend = diaspora_msg_build($msg,$a->user,null,$a->user['prvkey'],null,true);
 	foreach($recips as $recip) {
-		q("insert into queue (`cid`,`network`,`created`,`last`,`content`,`batch`)
-			values(%d,'%s','%s','%s','%s',%d)",
-			intval($recip['id']),
-			dbesc(NETWORK_DIASPORA),
-			dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-			dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-			dbesc($msgtosend),
-			intval(1)
-		);
+		add_to_queue($recip['id'],NETWORK_DIASPORA,$msgtosend,true);
 	}
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/include/queue_fn.php b/include/queue_fn.php
index bc47ceffdb..2168d42d78 100644
--- a/include/queue_fn.php
+++ b/include/queue_fn.php
@@ -14,3 +14,38 @@ function remove_queue_item($id) {
 		intval($id)
 	);
 }
+
+
+function add_to_queue($cid,$network,$msg,$batch = false) {
+
+	$max_queue = get_config('system','max_contact_queue');
+	if($max_queue < 1)
+		$max_queue = 500;
+
+	$batch_queue = get_config('system','max_batch_queue');
+	if($batch_queue < 1)
+		$batch_queue = 1000;
+
+	$r = q("SELECT COUNT(*) AS `total` FROM `queue` left join `contact` WHERE ``queue`.`cid` = %d AND `contact`.`self` = 0 ",
+		intval($cid)
+	);
+	if($r && count($r)) {
+		if($batch &&  ($r[0]['total'] > $batch_queue)) {
+			logger('add_to_queue: too many queued items for batch server ' . $cid . ' - discarding message');
+			return;
+		}
+		elseif((! $batch) && ($r[0]['total'] > $max_queue)) {
+			logger('add_to_queue: too many queued items for contact ' . $cid . ' - discarding message');
+			return;
+		}
+	}
+
+	q("INSERT INTO `queue` ( `cid`, `network`, `created`, `last`, `content`, `batch`)
+		VALUES ( %d, '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', %d) ",
+		intval($cid),
+		dbesc(datetime_convert()),
+		dbesc(datetime_convert()),
+		dbesc($msg),
+		intval(($batch) ? 1: 0)
+	);
+}