diff --git a/lib/webfinger.rb b/lib/webfinger.rb
index e1312f9334b657c4eba78b9a9332b5ea38e12bc0..077009c8c526ebb7b247bd98c8c9047f952d1a22 100644
--- a/lib/webfinger.rb
+++ b/lib/webfinger.rb
@@ -28,8 +28,13 @@ class Webfinger
 
   def get(url)
     Rails.logger.info("Getting: #{url} for #{account}")
-    begin 
-      Faraday.get(url).body
+    begin
+      res = Faraday.get(url)
+      return false if res.status == 404
+      res.body
+    rescue OpenSSL::SSL::SSLError => e
+      Rails.logger.info "Failed to fetch #{url}: SSL setup invalid"
+      raise e
     rescue => e
       Rails.logger.info("Failed to fetch: #{url} for #{account}; #{e.message}")
       raise e
@@ -51,7 +56,7 @@ class Webfinger
     else
       person = make_person_from_webfinger
     end
-    FEDERATION_LOGGER.info("successfully webfingered#{@account}")
+    FEDERATION_LOGGER.info("successfully webfingered#{@account}") if person
     person
   end
 
@@ -64,7 +69,7 @@ class Webfinger
         self.ssl = false
         retry
       else
-        raise I18n.t('webfinger.xrd_fetch_failed', :account => account)
+        raise "there was an error getting the xrd from account #{@account}: #{e.message}"
       end
     end
   end
@@ -90,6 +95,8 @@ class Webfinger
 
   def webfinger_profile_xrd
     @webfinger_profile_xrd ||= get(webfinger_profile_url)
+    FEDERATION_LOGGER.info "#{@account} doesn't exists anymore" if @webfinger_profile_xrd == false
+    @webfinger_profile_xrd
   end
 
   def hcard_xrd
@@ -97,7 +104,7 @@ class Webfinger
   end
 
   def make_person_from_webfinger
-    Person.create_from_webfinger(webfinger_profile, hcard)
+    Person.create_from_webfinger(webfinger_profile, hcard) unless webfinger_profile_xrd == false
   end
 
   def host_meta_url
diff --git a/lib/webfinger_profile.rb b/lib/webfinger_profile.rb
index 867a506c16864527189787f7548477d89e8651ae..5fe33d705755d3672af33c41b141fdb1a2971123 100644
--- a/lib/webfinger_profile.rb
+++ b/lib/webfinger_profile.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class WebfingerProfile
     doc.remove_namespaces!
 
     account_string = doc.css('Subject').text.gsub('acct:', '').strip
-
+    
     raise "account in profile(#{account_string}) and account requested (#{@account}) do not match" if account_string != @account
 
     doc.css('Link').each do |l|
diff --git a/spec/lib/webfinger_spec.rb b/spec/lib/webfinger_spec.rb
index 2443d849064894a98388717eb3d991a557ec3b67..89a6948debbbf49f923596a004740d4cd591bab3 100644
--- a/spec/lib/webfinger_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/webfinger_spec.rb
@@ -72,6 +72,15 @@ describe Webfinger do
 
       a_request(:get, redirect_url).should have_been_made
     end
+    
+    it 'returns false on 404' do
+      url ="https://bar.com/.well-known/host-meta"
+      stub_request(:get, url).
+        to_return(:status => 404, :body => nil)
+
+      finger.get(url).should_not == nil
+      finger.get(url).should == false
+    end
   end
 
   describe 'existing_person_with_profile?' do
@@ -176,10 +185,17 @@ describe Webfinger do
   describe '#make_person_from_webfinger' do
     it 'with an hcard and a webfinger_profile, it calls Person.create_from_webfinger' do
       finger.stub(:hcard).and_return("hcard")
+      finger.stub(:webfinger_profile_xrd).and_return("webfinger_profile_xrd")
       finger.stub(:webfinger_profile).and_return("webfinger_profile")
       Person.should_receive(:create_from_webfinger).with("webfinger_profile", "hcard")
       finger.make_person_from_webfinger
     end
+    
+    it 'with an false xrd it does not call Person.create_from_webfinger' do
+      finger.stub(:webfinger_profile_xrd).and_return(false)
+      Person.should_not_receive(:create_from_webfinger)
+      finger.make_person_from_webfinger
+    end
   end