diff --git a/include/Contact.php b/include/Contact.php
index 1215f40e7..920ec3c2b 100644
--- a/include/Contact.php
+++ b/include/Contact.php
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ function terminate_friendship($user,$self,$contact) {
 			'$photo' => $self['photo'],
 			'$thumb' => $self['thumb'],
 			'$published' => datetime_convert('UTC','UTC', 'now', ATOM_TIME),
-			'$item_id' => 'urn:X-dfrn:' . $a->get_hostname() . ':unfollow:' . random_string(),
+			'$item_id' => 'urn:X-dfrn:' . $a->get_hostname() . ':unfollow:' . get_guid(32),
 			'$title' => '',
 			'$type' => 'text',
 			'$content' => t('stopped following'),
diff --git a/include/follow.php b/include/follow.php
index 6c998e178..10ce4f667 100644
--- a/include/follow.php
+++ b/include/follow.php
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ function new_contact($uid,$url,$interactive = false) {
 		'$photo' => $a->contact['photo'],
 		'$thumb' => $a->contact['thumb'],
 		'$published' => datetime_convert('UTC','UTC', 'now', ATOM_TIME),
-		'$item_id' => 'urn:X-dfrn:' . $a->get_hostname() . ':follow:' . random_string(),
+		'$item_id' => 'urn:X-dfrn:' . $a->get_hostname() . ':follow:' . get_guid(32),
 		'$title' => '',
 		'$type' => 'text',
 		'$content' => t('following'),
diff --git a/include/items.php b/include/items.php
index eaa056546..a2b2a0197 100644
--- a/include/items.php
+++ b/include/items.php
@@ -1210,7 +1210,8 @@ function item_store($arr,$force_parent = false, $notify = false, $dontcache = fa
 	}
 
 	$arr['wall']          = ((x($arr,'wall'))          ? intval($arr['wall'])                : 0);
-	$arr['uri']           = ((x($arr,'uri'))           ? notags(trim($arr['uri']))           : random_string());
+	$arr['guid']          = ((x($arr,'guid'))          ? notags(trim($arr['guid']))          : get_guid(32, $arr['network']));
+	$arr['uri']           = ((x($arr,'uri'))           ? notags(trim($arr['uri']))           : $arr['guid']);
 	$arr['extid']         = ((x($arr,'extid'))         ? notags(trim($arr['extid']))         : '');
 	$arr['author-name']   = ((x($arr,'author-name'))   ? notags(trim($arr['author-name']))   : '');
 	$arr['author-link']   = ((x($arr,'author-link'))   ? notags(trim($arr['author-link']))   : '');
@@ -1248,7 +1249,6 @@ function item_store($arr,$force_parent = false, $notify = false, $dontcache = fa
 	$arr['app']           = ((x($arr,'app'))           ? notags(trim($arr['app']))           : '');
 	$arr['origin']        = ((x($arr,'origin'))        ? intval($arr['origin'])              : 0 );
 	$arr['network']       = ((x($arr,'network'))       ? trim($arr['network'])               : '');
-	$arr['guid']          = ((x($arr,'guid'))          ? notags(trim($arr['guid']))          : get_guid(32, $arr['network']));
 	$arr['postopts']      = ((x($arr,'postopts'))      ? trim($arr['postopts'])              : '');
 	$arr['resource-id']   = ((x($arr,'resource-id'))   ? trim($arr['resource-id'])           : '');
 	$arr['event-id']      = ((x($arr,'event-id'))      ? intval($arr['event-id'])            : 0 );
diff --git a/include/message.php b/include/message.php
index ac1457172..0f4b53c62 100644
--- a/include/message.php
+++ b/include/message.php
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ function send_message($recipient=0, $body='', $subject='', $replyto=''){
 		return -2;
 	}
 
+	$guid = get_guid(32);
+ 	$uri = 'urn:X-dfrn:' . $a->get_baseurl() . ':' . local_user() . ':' . $guid;
+
 	$convid = 0;
 	$reply = false;
 
@@ -42,19 +45,16 @@ function send_message($recipient=0, $body='', $subject='', $replyto=''){
 			$convid = $r[0]['convid'];
 	}
 
-	$recip_host = substr($contact[0]['url'],strpos($contact[0]['url'],'://')+3);
-	$recip_host = substr($recip_host,0,strpos($recip_host,'/'));
-
-	$recip_handle = (($contact[0]['addr']) ? $contact[0]['addr'] : $contact[0]['nick'] . '@' . $recip_host);
-	$sender_handle = $a->user['nickname'] . '@' . substr($a->get_baseurl(), strpos($a->get_baseurl(),'://') + 3);
-
-	$msg_guid = get_guid(32);
-	$uri = $recip_handle.':'.$msg_guid;
-
 	if(! $convid) {
 
 		// create a new conversation
 
+		$recip_host = substr($contact[0]['url'],strpos($contact[0]['url'],'://')+3);
+		$recip_host = substr($recip_host,0,strpos($recip_host,'/'));
+
+		$recip_handle = (($contact[0]['addr']) ? $contact[0]['addr'] : $contact[0]['nick'] . '@' . $recip_host);
+		$sender_handle = $a->user['nickname'] . '@' . substr($a->get_baseurl(), strpos($a->get_baseurl(),'://') + 3);
+
 		$conv_guid = get_guid(32);
 		$convuri = $recip_handle.':'.$conv_guid;
 
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ function send_message($recipient=0, $body='', $subject='', $replyto=''){
 		`contact-id`, `title`, `body`, `seen`, `reply`, `replied`, `uri`, `parent-uri`, `created`)
 		VALUES ( %d, '%s', %d, '%s', '%s', '%s', %d, '%s', '%s', %d, %d, %d, '%s', '%s', '%s' )",
 		intval(local_user()),
-		dbesc($msg_guid),
+		dbesc($guid),
 		intval($convid),
 		dbesc($me[0]['name']),
 		dbesc($me[0]['thumb']),
@@ -172,8 +172,8 @@ function send_wallmessage($recipient='', $body='', $subject='', $replyto=''){
 	if(! strlen($subject))
 		$subject = t('[no subject]');
 
-	$hash = random_string();
- 	$uri = 'urn:X-dfrn:' . $a->get_baseurl() . ':' . local_user() . ':' . $hash ;
+	$guid = get_guid(32);
+ 	$uri = 'urn:X-dfrn:' . $a->get_baseurl() . ':' . local_user() . ':' . $guid;
 
 	$convid = 0;
 	$reply = false;
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ function send_wallmessage($recipient='', $body='', $subject='', $replyto=''){
 		`contact-id`, `title`, `body`, `seen`, `reply`, `replied`, `uri`, `parent-uri`, `created`, `unknown`)
 		VALUES ( %d, '%s', %d, '%s', '%s', '%s', %d, '%s', '%s', %d, %d, %d, '%s', '%s', '%s', %d )",
 		intval($recipient['uid']),
-		dbesc(get_guid(32)),
+		dbesc($guid),
 		intval($convid),
 		dbesc($me['name']),
 		dbesc($me['photo']),
diff --git a/mod/wall_attach.php b/mod/wall_attach.php
index 80b679012..1e63a904c 100644
--- a/mod/wall_attach.php
+++ b/mod/wall_attach.php
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ function wall_attach_post(&$a) {
 
 	$filedata = @file_get_contents($src);
 	$mimetype = z_mime_content_type($filename);
-	$hash = random_string();
+	$hash = get_guid(64);
 	$created = datetime_convert();
 	$r = q("INSERT INTO `attach` ( `uid`, `hash`, `filename`, `filetype`, `filesize`, `data`, `created`, `edited`, `allow_cid`, `allow_gid`,`deny_cid`, `deny_gid` )
 		VALUES ( %d, '%s', '%s', '%s', %d, '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s' ) ",
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ function wall_attach_post(&$a) {
 		dbesc(''),
 		dbesc(''),
 		dbesc('')
-	);		
+	);
 
 	@unlink($src);