diff --git a/bookwyrm/outgoing.py b/bookwyrm/outgoing.py
index 68d790133..95b89d9f9 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/outgoing.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/outgoing.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ from bookwyrm.status import create_generated_note
 from bookwyrm.status import delete_status
 from bookwyrm.remote_user import get_or_create_remote_user
 from bookwyrm.settings import DOMAIN
+from bookwyrm.utils import regex
 
 
 @csrf_exempt
@@ -36,13 +37,17 @@ def outbox(request, username):
 
 
 def handle_remote_webfinger(query):
-    ''' webfingerin' other servers '''
+    ''' webfingerin' other servers, username query should be user@domain '''
     user = None
-    domain = query.split('@')[1]
+    try:
+        domain = query.split('@')[2]
+    except IndexError:
+        return None
+
     try:
         user = models.User.objects.get(username=query)
     except models.User.DoesNotExist:
-        url = 'https://%s/.well-known/webfinger?resource=acct:%s' % \
+        url = 'https://%s/.well-known/webfinger?resource=acct:@%s' % \
             (domain, query)
         try:
             response = requests.get(url)
@@ -57,7 +62,7 @@ def handle_remote_webfinger(query):
                     user = get_or_create_remote_user(link['href'])
                 except KeyError:
                     return None
-    return [user]
+    return user
 
 
 def handle_follow(user, to_follow):
@@ -216,7 +221,7 @@ def handle_status(user, form):
     # inspect the text for user tags
     text = status.content
     matches = re.finditer(
-        r'\W@[a-zA-Z_\-\.0-9]+(@[a-z-A-Z0-9_\-]+.[a-z]+)?',
+        regex.username,
         text
     )
     for match in matches:
@@ -226,9 +231,8 @@ def handle_status(user, form):
             username.append(DOMAIN)
         username = '@'.join(username)
 
-        try:
-            mention_user = models.User.objects.get(username=username)
-        except models.User.DoesNotExist:
+        mention_user = handle_remote_webfinger(username)
+        if not mention_user:
             # we can ignore users we don't know about
             continue
         # add them to status mentions fk
diff --git a/bookwyrm/utils/__init__.py b/bookwyrm/utils/__init__.py
index e69de29bb..a90554c70 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/utils/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+from .regex import username
diff --git a/bookwyrm/views.py b/bookwyrm/views.py
index 4721644c8..4666409da 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/views.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/views.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ from bookwyrm.activitypub import ActivityEncoder
 from bookwyrm import forms, models, books_manager
 from bookwyrm import goodreads_import
 from bookwyrm.tasks import app
+from bookwyrm.utils import regex
 
 
 def get_user_from_username(username):
@@ -168,7 +169,7 @@ def search(request):
         return JsonResponse([r.__dict__ for r in book_results], safe=False)
 
     # use webfinger  looks like a mastodon style account@domain.com username
-    if re.match(r'\w+@\w+.\w+', query):
+    if re.match(regex.full_username, query):
         outgoing.handle_remote_webfinger(query)
 
     # do a local user search
diff --git a/bookwyrm/wellknown.py b/bookwyrm/wellknown.py
index b59256fcb..94320c2de 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/wellknown.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/wellknown.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ''' responds to various requests to /.well-know '''
-from django.http import HttpResponseBadRequest, HttpResponseNotFound
+from django.http import HttpResponseNotFound
 from django.http import JsonResponse
 
 from bookwyrm import models
@@ -13,11 +13,14 @@ def webfinger(request):
 
     resource = request.GET.get('resource')
     if not resource and not resource.startswith('acct:'):
-        return HttpResponseBadRequest()
-    ap_id = resource.replace('acct:', '')
-    user = models.User.objects.filter(username=ap_id).first()
-    if not user:
+        return HttpResponseNotFound()
+
+    username = resource.replace('acct:@', '')
+    try:
+        user = models.User.objects.get(username=username)
+    except models.User.DoesNotExist:
         return HttpResponseNotFound('No account found')
+
     return JsonResponse({
         'subject': 'acct:%s' % (user.username),
         'links': [