diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/app/pages/profile.js b/app/assets/javascripts/app/pages/profile.js
index 6410fad4971effc083a73741681a93600cb2d5ae..028e1b0774a4b193a57692fda91ab764356a9452 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/app/pages/profile.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/app/pages/profile.js
@@ -15,16 +15,19 @@ app.pages.Profile = app.views.Base.extend({
     "click #edit-mode-toggle" : "toggleEdit"
   },
 
+  personGUID : null,
   editMode : false,
 
   presenter : function(){
     var bio =  this.model.get("bio") || ''
     return _.extend(this.defaultPresenter(),
       {text : this.model && app.helpers.textFormatter(bio, this.model),
-       isOwnProfile : true })
+       isOwnProfile : this.isOwnProfile() })
   },
 
   initialize : function(options) {
+    this.personGUID = options.personId
+
     this.model = new app.models.Profile.findByGuid(options.personId)
     this.stream = options && options.stream || new app.models.Stream()
     this.stream.preloadOrFetch();
@@ -40,9 +43,6 @@ app.pages.Profile = app.views.Base.extend({
   },
 
   isOwnProfile : function() {
-    // this is all tested, but does not work.  there is something weird going here :(
-    // i'm going to return true in the presenter for now until this is resolved.
-
-    return(app.currentUser.get("diaspora_id") == this.model.get("diaspora_id"))
+    return(app.currentUser.get("guid") == this.personGUID)
   }
 });
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/new_styles/_profile.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/new_styles/_profile.scss
index 8eba2a120348745784af8307e34f4dcb439ef0f7..74d986322021594f894be00ef19685f846323201 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/new_styles/_profile.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/new_styles/_profile.scss
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@
   text-align : right;
   padding : 10px 18px;
 
+  /* when our buttons aren't there, we still want to maintain a persistent height */
+  min-height : 35px;
+
   .control {
     @include transition(opacity);
     @include opacity(0.4);
diff --git a/spec/javascripts/app/pages/profile_spec.js b/spec/javascripts/app/pages/profile_spec.js
index 79f5f82b703cdb8afd616abbf9acf6284fede5ab..0dd76b126eb6095784aa4345f85aaccdc98f5395 100644
--- a/spec/javascripts/app/pages/profile_spec.js
+++ b/spec/javascripts/app/pages/profile_spec.js
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ describe("app.pages.Profile", function(){
   describe("isOwnProfile", function(){
     beforeEach(function(){
       this.user = new app.models.User(factory.author())
-      this.page.model = this.user
+      this.page.personGUID = this.user.get("guid")
     })
 
     it("returns true if app.currentUser matches the current profile's user", function(){
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ describe("app.pages.Profile", function(){
     })
 
     it("returns false if app.currentUser does not match the current profile's user", function(){
-      app.currentUser = new app.models.User(factory.author({diaspora_id : "foo@foo.com"}))
+      app.currentUser = new app.models.User(factory.author({guid : "nope!"}))
       expect(this.page.isOwnProfile()).toBeFalsy()
     })
   })