diff --git a/lib/em-webfinger.rb b/lib/em-webfinger.rb
index 102760156..f6a3539f7 100644
--- a/lib/em-webfinger.rb
+++ b/lib/em-webfinger.rb
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ class EMWebfinger
   def initialize(account)
     @account = account.strip.gsub('acct:','').to_s
     @callbacks = []
-    @ssl = false 
+    @ssl = true 
     # Raise an error if identifier has a port number 
     raise "Identifier is invalid" if(@account.strip.match(/\:\d+$/))
     # Raise an error if identifier is not a valid email (generous regexp)
@@ -44,8 +44,12 @@ class EMWebfinger
     }
 
     http.errback {
-      
-      process_callbacks "there was an error getting the xrd from account#{@account}" }
+      if @ssl
+        @ssl = false
+        get_xrd
+      else
+        process_callbacks "there was an error getting the xrd from account#{@account}" 
+      end }
   end
 
 
diff --git a/spec/lib/em-webfinger_spec.rb b/spec/lib/em-webfinger_spec.rb
index eb88684a4..5441d3f91 100644
--- a/spec/lib/em-webfinger_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/em-webfinger_spec.rb
@@ -156,7 +156,6 @@ describe EMWebfinger do
         }
       end
 
-
       it 'must try https first' do
         single_request = FakeHttpRequest.new(:success)
         single_request.callbacks = [diaspora_xrd]
@@ -172,6 +171,23 @@ describe EMWebfinger do
           }
         }
       end
+
+      it 'should retry with http if https fails with an http error code' do
+        bad_request = FakeHttpRequest.new(:failure)
+
+        good_request.callbacks = [diaspora_xrd, diaspora_finger, hcard_xml]
+
+        EventMachine::HttpRequest.should_receive(:new).with("https://tom.joindiaspora.com/.well-known/host-meta").and_return(bad_request)
+        EventMachine::HttpRequest.should_receive(:new).exactly(3).and_return(good_request)
+
+        f = EMWebfinger.new("tom@tom.joindiaspora.com") 
+
+        EM.run {
+          f.on_person{ |p| 
+          EM.stop
+        }
+        }
+      end
     end
   end
 end