diff --git a/database-calls/db.mjs b/database-calls/db.mjs
index 184bbeb..61d32d1 100644
--- a/database-calls/db.mjs
+++ b/database-calls/db.mjs
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ import config from "../config.mjs"
 export const db = Knex({
   client: 'sqlite3', // or 'better-sqlite3'
   connection: {
-    filename: "data/database"
-    //filename: "data/database-testing"
+    //filename: "data/database"
+    filename: "data/database-testing"
   },
   useNullAsDefault: true
 })
@@ -103,9 +103,11 @@ export const tableIsNotEmpty = async (table) => {
 export const getPromptFromBuffer = async () => {
   logger.trace("getting prompt from buffer")
   const oldestWordInBuffer = await db('buffer').select('word').orderBy('timestamp', 'asc').limit(1)
-  logger.info(`oldest word in buffer: ${oldestWordInBuffer[0].word}`)
+  const word = oldestWordInBuffer[0].word
+  if(!word){throw new Error("Requested oldest word in buffer but got an empty array! Is buffer empty?")}
   try {
-    const prompt = await getAcceptablePrompts(oldestWordInBuffer[0].word)
+    const prompt = await getAcceptablePrompts(word)
+    if(prompt.length===0){throw new Error("Prompt from buffer is not acceptable! Has it already been published? Have the acceptability criteria changed?")}
     return prompt[0]
   } catch (error) {
     logger.error("getPromptFromBuffer failed!")
diff --git a/social-interaction/handleMention.mjs b/social-interaction/handleMention.mjs
index 792d773..c43a11d 100644
--- a/social-interaction/handleMention.mjs
+++ b/social-interaction/handleMention.mjs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import logger from "../logger.mjs"
-import { isoDate } from "../utilities.mjs"
+import { timestamp } from "../utilities.mjs"
 import Note from "./Note.mjs"
 import createNote from "../firefish-calls/createNote.mjs"
 import { getDatePublished, wordIsAlreadyInBuffer, getAcceptablePrompts, valueExistsInColumn, insertIntoBuffer } from "../database-calls/db.mjs"
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ export default async function handleMentions(body) {
             createNote(`I'm afraid I can't do that, ${note.author}. The word you've suggested is either too quirky or not quirky enough. Them's the breaks.`,note.id)
             return { code: "RARITY" }      
     } else {
-        await insertIntoBuffer(word,isoDate())
+        await insertIntoBuffer(word,timestamp())
         await createNote(`OK!`,note.id)
         return { code: "OK" }
     }
diff --git a/utilities.mjs b/utilities.mjs
index 14705a7..84dddcf 100644
--- a/utilities.mjs
+++ b/utilities.mjs
@@ -4,4 +4,8 @@ export function isoDate(date=Date.now()){
 
 export function removeUrls(string) {
     return string.replace(/(https:\/\/www\.|http:\/\/www\.|https:\/\/|http:\/\/)?[a-zA-Z]{2,}(\.[a-zA-Z]{2,})(\.[a-zA-Z]{2,})?\/[a-zA-Z0-9]{2,}|((https:\/\/www\.|http:\/\/www\.|https:\/\/|http:\/\/)?[a-zA-Z]{2,}(\.[a-zA-Z]{2,})(\.[a-zA-Z]{2,})?)|(https:\/\/www\.|http:\/\/www\.|https:\/\/|http:\/\/)?[a-zA-Z0-9]{2,}\.[a-zA-Z0-9]{2,}\.[a-zA-Z0-9]{2,}(\.[a-zA-Z0-9]{2,})?/g, '')
+}
+
+export function timestamp(){
+    return Date.now()
 }
\ No newline at end of file