diff --git a/feeds/cron.go b/feeds/cron.go
index c1a8bcb0..3eacea59 100644
--- a/feeds/cron.go
+++ b/feeds/cron.go
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ func (f *Fetcher) Fetch(fp *gofeed.Parser, url string, lastDigest *time.Time) (*
 	items := []*FeedItem{}
 	// we only want to return feed items published since the last digest time we fetched
 	for _, item := range feed.Items {
-		if lastDigest != nil && item.PublishedParsed.Before(*lastDigest) {
+		if item == nil || (item.PublishedParsed != nil && lastDigest != nil && item.PublishedParsed.Before(*lastDigest)) {
 			continue
 		}
 
diff --git a/lists/api.go b/lists/api.go
index a00e319f..cf1e793a 100644
--- a/lists/api.go
+++ b/lists/api.go
@@ -93,7 +93,6 @@ func getPostsForUser(r *http.Request, user *db.User, tag string, num int) ([]*db
 	cfg := shared.GetCfg(r)
 	var err error
 
-	posts := make([]*db.Post, 0)
 	pager := &db.Pager{Num: num, Page: 0}
 	var p *db.Paginate[*db.Post]
 	if tag == "" {
@@ -101,7 +100,7 @@ func getPostsForUser(r *http.Request, user *db.User, tag string, num int) ([]*db
 	} else {
 		p, err = dbpool.FindUserPostsByTag(pager, tag, user.ID, cfg.Space)
 	}
-	posts = p.Data
+	posts := p.Data
 
 	if err != nil {
 		return posts, err