diff --git a/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb b/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
index e4e161dc0..dd284481f 100644
--- a/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/status_messages_controller.rb
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ class StatusMessagesController < ApplicationController
     @status_message = current_user.build_post(:status_message, params[:status_message])
 
 
-    if photos || @status_message.save
+    if !photos.empty? || @status_message.save
+      pp photos
+      pp @status_message
       raise 'MongoMapper failed to catch a failed save' unless @status_message.id
 
       @status_message.photos += photos unless photos.nil?
diff --git a/features/step_definitions/user_steps.rb b/features/step_definitions/user_steps.rb
index 4f052f998..a811bd678 100644
--- a/features/step_definitions/user_steps.rb
+++ b/features/step_definitions/user_steps.rb
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ Given /^I have an aspect called "([^"]*)"$/ do |aspect_name|
 end
 
 Given /^I have one contact request$/ do
-  other_user   = make_user
+  other_user   = Factory(:user)
   other_aspect = other_user.aspects.create!(:name => "meh")
   other_user.send_contact_request_to(@me.person, other_aspect)
 
diff --git a/spec/controllers/status_message_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/status_message_controller_spec.rb
index a8df234bb..922441773 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/status_message_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/status_message_controller_spec.rb
@@ -69,9 +69,7 @@ describe StatusMessagesController do
     it "doesn't overwrite id" do
       old_status_message = user1.post(:status_message, :message => "hello", :to => aspect1.id)
       status_message_hash[:status_message][:id] = old_status_message.id
-      lambda {
-        post :create, status_message_hash
-      }.should raise_error /failed save/
+      post :create, status_message_hash
       old_status_message.reload.message.should == 'hello'
     end