diff --git a/app/functions.py b/app/functions.py
index 8fce953..6000617 100644
--- a/app/functions.py
+++ b/app/functions.py
@@ -21,12 +21,10 @@ def extract_post(post):
 	post = html.unescape(post) # convert HTML escape codes to text
 	soup = BeautifulSoup(post, "html.parser")
 	for lb in soup.select("br"): # replace <br> with linebreak
-		lb.insert_after("\n")
-		lb.decompose()
+		lb.replace_with("\n")
 
 	for p in soup.select("p"): # ditto for <p>
-		p.insert_after("\n")
-		p.unwrap()
+		p.replace_with("\n")
 
 	for ht in soup.select("a.hashtag"): # convert hashtags from links to text
 		ht.unwrap()
@@ -34,8 +32,7 @@ def extract_post(post):
 	for link in soup.select("a"): #ocnvert <a href='https://example.com>example.com</a> to just https://example.com
 		if 'href' in link:
 			# apparently not all a tags have a href, which is understandable if you're doing normal web stuff, but on a social media platform??
-			link.insert_after(link["href"])
-		link.decompose()
+			link.replace_with(link["href"])
 
 	text = soup.get_text()
 	text = re.sub(r"https://([^/]+)/(@[^\s]+)", r"\2@\1", text) # put mastodon-style mentions back in
diff --git a/app/scrape.py b/app/scrape.py
index ce21a20..d708423 100755
--- a/app/scrape.py
+++ b/app/scrape.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ def scrape_posts(account):
 
 	# here we go!
 	# warning: scraping posts from outbox.json is messy stuff
-	while not done and len(j['orderedItems']) > 0:
+	while not done and 'orderedItems' in j and len(j['orderedItems']) > 0:
 		for oi in j['orderedItems']:
 			if oi['type'] == "Create":
 				# this is a status/post/toot/florp/whatever