diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index 928a02173b9d8453078d85d7b66b2b44843a769e..c68cbb6dcc21aa89bbdf09239882689f7da075af 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -239,11 +239,8 @@ class User
 
   ###Helpers############
   def self.instantiate!( opts = {} )
-    terse_url = APP_CONFIG[:pod_url].gsub(/(https?:|www\.)\/\//, '')
-    terse_url.chop! if terse_url[-1, 1] == '/'
-
-    opts[:person][:diaspora_handle] = "#{opts[:username]}@#{terse_url}"
-    opts[:person][:url] = APP_CONFIG[:pod_url]
+    opts[:person][:diaspora_handle] = "#{opts[:username]}@#{APP_CONFIG[:terse_pod_url]}"
+    pts[:person][:url] = APP_CONFIG[:pod_url]
     opts[:person][:serialized_key] = generate_key
     User.create(opts)
   end
diff --git a/config/initializers/_load_app_config.rb b/config/initializers/_load_app_config.rb
index 33f7b183be8cf732c9a37e5780484f12feedc73a..521f9f0a049e6b70a1033a4e453b46001d256904 100644
--- a/config/initializers/_load_app_config.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/_load_app_config.rb
@@ -20,4 +20,7 @@ else
   APP_CONFIG = all_envs['default'].symbolize_keys
 end
 
-puts "WARNING: Please modify your app_config.yml to have a proper pod_url!" if APP_CONFIG[:pod_url] == "http://example.org/" && Rails.env != :test
+APP_CONFIG[:terse_pod_url] = APP_CONFIG[:pod_url].gsub(/(https?:|www\.)\/\//, '') 
+APP_CONFIG[:terse_pod_url].chop! if APP_CONFIG[:terse_pod_url][-1, 1] == '/'
+
+puts "WARNING: Please modify your app_config.yml to have a proper pod_url!" if APP_CONFIG[:terse_pod_url] == "example.org" && Rails.env != :test