diff --git a/Changelog.md b/Changelog.md
index 787774e78..5b8a54165 100644
--- a/Changelog.md
+++ b/Changelog.md
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ We use yarn to install the frontend dependencies now, so you need to have that i
 * Update the suggested Ruby version to 2.7. If you run into trouble during the update and you followed our installation guides, run `rvm install 2.7`. [#8366](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/8366)
 * Upgrade to bundler 2 [#8366](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/8366)
 * Stop checking `/.well-known/host-meta`, check for `/.well-known/nodeinfo` instead [#8377](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/8377)
+* Handle NodeInfo timeouts gracefully [#8380](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/8380)
 
 ## Bug fixes
 * Fix that no mails were sent after photo export [#8365](https://github.com/diaspora/diaspora/pull/8365)
diff --git a/app/models/pod.rb b/app/models/pod.rb
index c64bf4ce2..08692f280 100644
--- a/app/models/pod.rb
+++ b/app/models/pod.rb
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ class Pod < ApplicationRecord
   def update_from_result(result)
     self.status = status_from_result(result)
     update_offline_since
-    logger.warn "OFFLINE #{result.failure_message}" if offline?
+    logger.warn "#{uri} OFFLINE: #{result.failure_message}" if offline?
 
     attributes_from_result(result)
     touch(:checked_at)
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ class Pod < ApplicationRecord
 
   def attributes_from_result(result)
     self.ssl ||= result.ssl
-    self.error = result.failure_message[0..254] if result.error?
+    self.error = result.error? ? result.failure_message[0..254] : nil
     self.software = result.software_version[0..254] if result.software_version.present?
     self.response_time = result.rt
   end
diff --git a/lib/connection_tester.rb b/lib/connection_tester.rb
index 4fd210b93..f278cc8c1 100644
--- a/lib/connection_tester.rb
+++ b/lib/connection_tester.rb
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ class ConnectionTester
     raise NetFailure, e.message
   rescue Faraday::SSLError => e
     raise SSLFailure, e.message
-  rescue ArgumentError, Faraday::ClientError => e
+  rescue ArgumentError, Faraday::ClientError, Faraday::ServerError => e
     raise HTTPFailure, "#{e.class}: #{e.message}"
   rescue StandardError => e
     unexpected_error(e)
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ class ConnectionTester
     raise HTTPFailure, "#{e.class}: #{e.message}"
   rescue NodeInfoFailure => e
     raise e
-  rescue JSON::Schema::ValidationError, JSON::Schema::SchemaError => e
+  rescue JSON::Schema::ValidationError, JSON::Schema::SchemaError, Faraday::TimeoutError => e
     raise NodeInfoFailure, "#{e.class}: #{e.message}"
   rescue JSON::JSONError => e
     raise NodeInfoFailure, e.message[0..255].encode(Encoding.default_external, undef: :replace)
diff --git a/spec/lib/connection_tester_spec.rb b/spec/lib/connection_tester_spec.rb
index 671fec860..d665dd717 100644
--- a/spec/lib/connection_tester_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/connection_tester_spec.rb
@@ -94,6 +94,11 @@ describe ConnectionTester do
       expect { tester.request }.to raise_error(ConnectionTester::HTTPFailure)
     end
 
+    it "receives a 502 bad gateway" do
+      stub_request(:get, url).to_return(status: 502, body: "Bad Gateway!")
+      expect { tester.request }.to raise_error(ConnectionTester::HTTPFailure)
+    end
+
     it "cannot connect" do
       stub_request(:get, url).to_raise(Faraday::ConnectionFailed.new("Error!"))
       expect { tester.request }.to raise_error(ConnectionTester::NetFailure)
@@ -172,6 +177,14 @@ describe ConnectionTester do
       expect { tester.nodeinfo }.to raise_error(ConnectionTester::NodeInfoFailure)
     end
 
+    it "handles timeout gracefully" do
+      ni_wellknown = {links: [{rel: "http://nodeinfo.diaspora.software/ns/schema/1.0", href: "/nodeinfo/1.0"}]}
+      stub_request(:get, "#{url}#{ConnectionTester::NODEINFO_FRAGMENT}")
+        .to_return(status: 200, body: JSON.generate(ni_wellknown))
+      stub_request(:get, "#{url}/nodeinfo/1.0").to_raise(Faraday::TimeoutError.new)
+      expect { tester.nodeinfo }.to raise_error(ConnectionTester::NodeInfoFailure)
+    end
+
     it "handles a invalid jrd document gracefully" do
       invalid_wellknown = {links: {rel: "http://nodeinfo.diaspora.software/ns/schema/1.0", href: "/nodeinfo/1.0"}}
       stub_request(:get, "#{url}#{ConnectionTester::NODEINFO_FRAGMENT}")
diff --git a/spec/models/pod_spec.rb b/spec/models/pod_spec.rb
index b7386f7a6..ac5520c73 100644
--- a/spec/models/pod_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/pod_spec.rb
@@ -143,31 +143,28 @@ describe Pod, type: :model do
   describe "#test_connection!" do
     before do
       @pod = FactoryBot.create(:pod)
-      @result = double("result")
       @now = Time.zone.now
 
-      allow(@result).to receive(:rt) { 123 }
-      allow(@result).to receive(:software_version) { "diaspora a.b.c.d" }
-      allow(@result).to receive(:failure_message) { "hello error!" }
+      @result = ConnectionTester::Result.new
+      @result.rt = 123
+      @result.software_version = "diaspora a.b.c.d"
+      @result.error = ConnectionTester::NetFailure.new("hello error!")
 
       expect(ConnectionTester).to receive(:check).at_least(:once).and_return(@result)
     end
 
     it "updates the connectivity values" do
-      allow(@result).to receive(:error)
-      allow(@result).to receive(:error?)
+      @result.error = nil
       @pod.test_connection!
 
       expect(@pod.status).to eq("no_errors")
-      expect(@pod.offline?).to be_falsy
+      expect(@pod.offline?).to be_falsey
       expect(@pod.response_time).to eq(123)
       expect(@pod.checked_at).to be_within(1.second).of @now
     end
 
     it "resets the scheduled_check flag" do
-      allow(@result).to receive(:error)
-      allow(@result).to receive(:error?)
-      @pod.update_column(:scheduled_check, true)
+      @pod.update(scheduled_check: true)
 
       @pod.test_connection!
 
@@ -175,17 +172,22 @@ describe Pod, type: :model do
     end
 
     it "handles a failed check" do
-      expect(@result).to receive(:error?).at_least(:once) { true }
-      expect(@result).to receive(:error).at_least(:once) { ConnectionTester::NetFailure.new }
       @pod.test_connection!
 
       expect(@pod.offline?).to be_truthy
       expect(@pod.offline_since).to be_within(1.second).of @now
     end
 
+    it "removes the error message when there was no error" do
+      @pod.update(error: "old error message")
+
+      @result.error = nil
+      @pod.test_connection!
+
+      expect(@pod.error).to be_nil
+    end
+
     it "preserves the original offline timestamp" do
-      expect(@result).to receive(:error?).at_least(:once) { true }
-      expect(@result).to receive(:error).at_least(:once) { ConnectionTester::NetFailure.new }
       @pod.test_connection!
 
       expect(@pod.offline_since).to be_within(1.second).of @now