diff --git a/bookwyrm/tests/test_views.py b/bookwyrm/tests/test_views.py
index ba4531f69..2c4353b7b 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/tests/test_views.py
@@ -23,6 +23,18 @@ class Views(TestCase):
             connector_file='self_connector',
             local=True
         )
+        self.local_user = models.User.objects.create_user(
+            'mouse', 'mouse@mouse.mouse', 'password', local=True)
+
+
+    def test_get_user_from_username(self):
+        ''' works for either localname or username '''
+        self.assertEqual(
+            views.get_user_from_username('mouse'), self.local_user)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            views.get_user_from_username('mouse@%s' % DOMAIN), self.local_user)
+        with self.assertRaises(models.User.DoesNotExist):
+            views.get_user_from_username('mojfse@example.com')
 
 
     def test_search_json_response(self):
diff --git a/bookwyrm/views.py b/bookwyrm/views.py
index 946c061ba..df08ab18f 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/views.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/views.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt
 from django.views.decorators.http import require_GET
 
 from bookwyrm import outgoing
-from bookwyrm.activitypub import ActivityEncoder, ActivitypubResponse
+from bookwyrm.activitypub import ActivitypubResponse
 from bookwyrm import forms, models, books_manager
 from bookwyrm import goodreads_import
 from bookwyrm.settings import PAGE_LENGTH
@@ -23,11 +23,11 @@ from bookwyrm.utils import regex
 
 def get_user_from_username(username):
     ''' helper function to resolve a localname or a username to a user '''
+    # raises DoesNotExist if user is now found
     try:
-        user = models.User.objects.get(localname=username)
+        return models.User.objects.get(localname=username)
     except models.User.DoesNotExist:
-        user = models.User.objects.get(username=username)
-    return user
+        return models.User.objects.get(username=username)
 
 
 def is_api_request(request):