diff --git a/apiserver/feed.py b/apiserver/feed.py
index 9b3635d..dac359b 100644
--- a/apiserver/feed.py
+++ b/apiserver/feed.py
@@ -68,16 +68,21 @@ def get_content_type(url):
 def update_story(story, is_manual=False):
     res = {}
 
-    if story['source'] == 'hackernews':
-        res = hackernews.story(story['ref'])
-    elif story['source'] == 'lobsters':
-        res = lobsters.story(story['ref'])
-    elif story['source'] == 'reddit':
-        res = reddit.story(story['ref'])
-    elif story['source'] == 'tildes':
-        res = tildes.story(story['ref'])
-    elif story['source'] == 'manual':
-        res = manual.story(story['ref'])
+    try:
+        if story['source'] == 'hackernews':
+            res = hackernews.story(story['ref'])
+        elif story['source'] == 'lobsters':
+            res = lobsters.story(story['ref'])
+        elif story['source'] == 'reddit':
+            res = reddit.story(story['ref'])
+        elif story['source'] == 'tildes':
+            res = tildes.story(story['ref'])
+        elif story['source'] == 'manual':
+            res = manual.story(story['ref'])
+    except BaseException as e:
+        utils.alert_tanner('Problem updating {} story, ref {}: {}'.format(story['source'], story['ref'], str(e)))
+        logging.exception(e)
+        return False
 
     if res:
         story.update(res) # join dicts
diff --git a/apiserver/feeds/lobsters.py b/apiserver/feeds/lobsters.py
index c9bab25..b2e1548 100644
--- a/apiserver/feeds/lobsters.py
+++ b/apiserver/feeds/lobsters.py
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ def story(ref):
 
     s = {}
     try:
-        s['author'] = r['submitter_user']['username']
+        s['author'] = r['submitter_user']
         s['author_link'] = SITE_AUTHOR_LINK(s['author'])
     except KeyError:
         s['author'] = ''
diff --git a/apiserver/utils.py b/apiserver/utils.py
index 9fbe3ee..7bf2bae 100644
--- a/apiserver/utils.py
+++ b/apiserver/utils.py
@@ -8,6 +8,14 @@ import string
 
 from bleach.sanitizer import Cleaner
 
+def alert_tanner(message):
+    try:
+        logger.info('Alerting Tanner: ' + message)
+        params = dict(qotnews=message)
+        requests.get('https://tbot.tannercollin.com/message', params=params, timeout=4)
+    except BaseException as e:
+        logger.error('Problem alerting Tanner: ' + str(e))
+
 def gen_rand_id():
     return ''.join(random.choice(string.ascii_uppercase) for _ in range(4))