diff --git a/server/db/postgres/adapter.go b/server/db/postgres/adapter.go
index e979e444..235c69be 100644
--- a/server/db/postgres/adapter.go
+++ b/server/db/postgres/adapter.go
@@ -2460,7 +2460,7 @@ func (a *adapter) FindOne(tag string) (string, error) {
 		err = rows.Err()
 	}
 
-	return "", err
+	return found, err
 }
 
 // Messages
diff --git a/server/topic.go b/server/topic.go
index 85f25229..9f0d082c 100644
--- a/server/topic.go
+++ b/server/topic.go
@@ -2450,7 +2450,7 @@ func (t *Topic) replyGetSub(sess *Session, asUid types.Uid, authLevel auth.Level
 		if query == "" {
 			// Query parsing error or no query. Report it externally as a generic ErrMalformed.
 			sess.queueOut(ErrMalformedReply(msg, now))
-			return errors.New("failed to parse search query; " + err.Error())
+			return errors.New("failed to parse search query; err is nil")
 		}
 
 		query, subs, err = pluginFind(asUid, query)