diff --git a/include/api.php b/include/api.php
index 55e39e358..699b066d2 100644
--- a/include/api.php
+++ b/include/api.php
@@ -1691,13 +1691,13 @@
 			`contact`.`name`, `contact`.`photo`, `contact`.`url`, `contact`.`rel`,
 			`contact`.`network`, `contact`.`thumb`, `contact`.`dfrn-id`, `contact`.`self`,
 			`contact`.`id` AS `cid`, `contact`.`uid` AS `contact-uid`
-			FROM `item`, `contact`
+			FROM `item`  FORCE INDEX (`uid_id`), `contact`
 			WHERE `item`.`uid` = %d AND `verb` = '%s'
 			AND NOT (`item`.`author-link` IN ('https://%s', 'http://%s'))
-			AND `item`.`visible` = 1 and `item`.`moderated` = 0 AND `item`.`deleted` = 0
+			AND `item`.`visible` AND NOT `item`.`moderated` AND NOT `item`.`deleted`
 			AND `contact`.`id` = `item`.`contact-id`
-			AND `contact`.`blocked` = 0 AND `contact`.`pending` = 0
-			AND `item`.`parent` IN (SELECT `iid` from thread where uid = %d AND `mention` AND !`ignored`)
+			AND NOT `contact`.`blocked` AND NOT `contact`.`pending`
+			AND `item`.`parent` IN (SELECT `iid` FROM `thread` WHERE `uid` = %d AND `mention` AND !`ignored`)
 			$sql_extra
 			AND `item`.`id`>%d
 			ORDER BY `item`.`id` DESC LIMIT %d ,%d ",
diff --git a/mod/admin.php b/mod/admin.php
index 7a16820c4..a98f464f8 100644
--- a/mod/admin.php
+++ b/mod/admin.php
@@ -283,14 +283,14 @@ function admin_page_federation(&$a) {
 		// get a total count for the platform, the name and version of the
 		// highest version and the protocol tpe
 		$c = q('SELECT count(*) AS total, platform, network, version FROM gserver
-			WHERE platform LIKE "%s" AND last_contact > last_failure
+			WHERE platform LIKE "%s" AND last_contact > last_failure AND `version` != ""
 			ORDER BY version ASC;', $p);
 		$total = $total + $c[0]['total'];
 
 		// what versions for that platform do we know at all?
 		// again only the active nodes
 		$v = q('SELECT count(*) AS total, version FROM gserver
-			WHERE last_contact > last_failure AND platform LIKE "%s" 
+			WHERE last_contact > last_failure AND platform LIKE "%s"  AND `version` != ""
 			GROUP BY version
 			ORDER BY version;', $p);
 
@@ -344,6 +344,9 @@ function admin_page_federation(&$a) {
 			$v = $newVv;
 		}
 
+		foreach ($v as $key => $vv)
+			$v[$key]["version"] = trim(strip_tags($vv["version"]));
+
 		// the 3rd array item is needed for the JavaScript graphs as JS does
 		// not like some characters in the names of variables...
 		$counts[$p]=array($c[0], $v, str_replace(array(' ','%'),'',$p), $colors[$p]);