diff --git a/activitypub.go b/activitypub.go
index c3df29f..d2980ff 100644
--- a/activitypub.go
+++ b/activitypub.go
@@ -708,7 +708,8 @@ func federatePost(app *App, p *PublicPost, collID int64, isUpdate bool) error {
 
 func getRemoteUser(app *App, actorID string) (*RemoteUser, error) {
 	u := RemoteUser{ActorID: actorID}
-	err := app.db.QueryRow("SELECT id, inbox, shared_inbox, handle FROM remoteusers WHERE actor_id = ?", actorID).Scan(&u.ID, &u.Inbox, &u.SharedInbox, &u.Handle)
+	var handle sql.NullString
+	err := app.db.QueryRow("SELECT id, inbox, shared_inbox, handle FROM remoteusers WHERE actor_id = ?", actorID).Scan(&u.ID, &u.Inbox, &u.SharedInbox, &handle)
 	switch {
 	case err == sql.ErrNoRows:
 		return nil, impart.HTTPError{http.StatusNotFound, "No remote user with that ID."}
@@ -717,6 +718,8 @@ func getRemoteUser(app *App, actorID string) (*RemoteUser, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	u.Handle = handle.String
+
 	return &u, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/database.go b/database.go
index b3b89cb..fd174d6 100644
--- a/database.go
+++ b/database.go
@@ -2643,6 +2643,7 @@ func handleFailedPostInsert(err error) error {
 }
 
 func (db *datastore) GetProfilePageFromHandle(app *App, handle string) (string, error) {
+	handle = strings.TrimLeft(handle, "@")
 	actorIRI := ""
 	remoteUser, err := getRemoteUserFromHandle(app, handle)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -2655,21 +2656,21 @@ func (db *datastore) GetProfilePageFromHandle(app *App, handle string) (string,
 		if errRemoteUser == nil {
 			_, err := app.db.Exec("UPDATE remoteusers SET handle = ? WHERE actor_id = ?", handle, actorIRI)
 			if err != nil {
-				log.Error("Can't update handle (" + handle + ") in database for user " + actorIRI)
+				log.Error("Couldn't update handle '%s' for user %s", handle, actorIRI)
 			}
 		} else {
 			// this probably means we don't have the user in the table so let's try to insert it
 			// here we need to ask the server for the inboxes
 			remoteActor, err := activityserve.NewRemoteActor(actorIRI)
 			if err != nil {
-				log.Error("Couldn't fetch remote actor", err)
+				log.Error("Couldn't fetch remote actor: %v", err)
 			}
 			if debugging {
 				log.Info("%s %s %s %s", actorIRI, remoteActor.GetInbox(), remoteActor.GetSharedInbox(), handle)
 			}
 			_, err = app.db.Exec("INSERT INTO remoteusers (actor_id, inbox, shared_inbox, handle) VALUES(?, ?, ?, ?)", actorIRI, remoteActor.GetInbox(), remoteActor.GetSharedInbox(), handle)
 			if err != nil {
-				log.Error("Can't insert remote user in database", err)
+				log.Error("Couldn't insert remote user: %v", err)
 				return "", err
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/migrations/v6.go b/migrations/v6.go
index c6f5012..8e0be78 100644
--- a/migrations/v6.go
+++ b/migrations/v6.go
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright © 2019 A Bunch Tell LLC.
+ * Copyright © 2019-2020 A Bunch Tell LLC.
  *
  * This file is part of WriteFreely.
  *
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ package migrations
 func supportActivityPubMentions(db *datastore) error {
 	t, err := db.Begin()
 
-	_, err = t.Exec(`ALTER TABLE remoteusers ADD COLUMN handle ` + db.typeVarChar(255) + ` DEFAULT '' NOT NULL`)
+	_, err = t.Exec(`ALTER TABLE remoteusers ADD COLUMN handle ` + db.typeVarChar(255) + ` NULL`)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Rollback()
 		return err
diff --git a/posts.go b/posts.go
index 35e9bd3..82907ba 100644
--- a/posts.go
+++ b/posts.go
@@ -1175,14 +1175,13 @@ func (p *PublicPost) ActivityObject(app *App) *activitystreams.Object {
 
 	stripper := bluemonday.StrictPolicy()
 	content := stripper.Sanitize(p.Content)
-	mentionRegex := regexp.MustCompile(`@[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]+\b`)
-	mentions := mentionRegex.FindAllString(content, -1)
+	mentions := mentionReg.FindAllString(content, -1)
 
 	for _, handle := range mentions {
 		actorIRI, err := app.db.GetProfilePageFromHandle(app, handle)
 		if err != nil {
-			log.Info("Can't find this user either in the database nor in the remote instance")
-			return nil
+			log.Info("Couldn't find user '%s' locally or remotely", handle)
+			continue
 		}
 		mentionedUsers[handle] = actorIRI
 	}
diff --git a/webfinger.go b/webfinger.go
index 61f6867..993272f 100644
--- a/webfinger.go
+++ b/webfinger.go
@@ -101,20 +101,20 @@ func RemoteLookup(handle string) string {
 	parts := strings.Split(handle, "@")
 	resp, err := http.Get("https://" + parts[1] + "/.well-known/webfinger?resource=acct:" + handle)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Error("Error performing webfinger request", err)
+		log.Error("Error on webfinger request: %v", err)
 		return ""
 	}
 
 	body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Error("Error reading webfinger response", err)
+		log.Error("Error on webfinger response: %v", err)
 		return ""
 	}
 
 	var result webfinger.Resource
 	err = json.Unmarshal(body, &result)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Error("Unsupported webfinger response received: %v", err)
+		log.Error("Unable to parse webfinger response: %v", err)
 		return ""
 	}