diff --git a/include/notifier.php b/include/notifier.php
index 7791b9bd4b..683cff360e 100644
--- a/include/notifier.php
+++ b/include/notifier.php
@@ -207,7 +207,6 @@
 		));
 	}
 	else {
-
 		if($followup) {
 			foreach($items as $item) {  // there is only one item
 				if($item['id'] == $item_id) {
@@ -224,7 +223,13 @@
 					continue;
 
 				$atom   .= atom_entry($item,'text',$contact,$owner,true);
-				$slaps[] = atom_entry($item,'html',$contact,$owner,true);
+
+				// There's a problem here - we *were* going to use salmon to provide semi-authenticated
+				// communication to OStatus, but unless we're the item author they won't verify.
+				// commented out for now, though we'll still send local replies (and any mentions 
+				// that they contain) upstream. Rethinking the problem space.
+ 
+//				$slaps[] = atom_entry($item,'html',$contact,$owner,true);
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -232,7 +237,7 @@
 
 	logger('notifier: ' . $atom, LOGGER_DATA);
 
-	logger('notifier: slaps: ' . print_r($slaps,true), LOGGER_DATA);
+//	logger('notifier: slaps: ' . print_r($slaps,true), LOGGER_DATA);
 
 	if($followup)
 		$recip_str = $parent['contact-id'];
@@ -324,14 +329,12 @@
 		
 	// send additional slaps to mentioned remote tags (@foo@example.com)
 
-	if(count($slaps) && count($url_recipients) && $notify_hub) {
+	if($slap && count($url_recipients) && $followup && $notify_hub) {
 		foreach($url_recipients as $url) {
-			logger('notifier: urldelivery: ' . $url);
-			foreach($slaps as $slappy) {
-				if($url) {
-					$deliver_status = slapper($owner,$url,$slappy);
-					// TODO: redeliver/queue these items on failure, though there is no contact record
-				}
+			if($url) {
+				logger('notifier: urldelivery: ' . $url);
+				$deliver_status = slapper($owner,$url,$slap);
+				// TODO: redeliver/queue these items on failure, though there is no contact record
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/mod/salmon.php b/mod/salmon.php
index 2ae6aa6287..8c7d921c86 100644
--- a/mod/salmon.php
+++ b/mod/salmon.php
@@ -199,7 +199,12 @@ function salmon_post(&$a) {
 
 	$hub = '';
 
-	// consume_feed will only accept a follow activity from this person if there is no contact record.
+	/**
+	 *
+	 * anti-spam measure: consume_feed will accept a follow activity from 
+	 * this person (and nothing else) if there is no existing contact record.
+	 *
+	 */
 
 	$contact_rec = ((count($r)) ? $r[0] : null);