diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index 6b81743c..0ee56255 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ The site will still run without federation. You can create local communities and
 
 My way around this is to use ngrok.com, which is a quick and simple way to create a temporary VPN with a domain and SSL. The free plan comes with ephermeral domain names that change every few days, which will break federation, or one randomly-named static domain that will need re-launching every few days. $10 per month will get you https://yourwhatever.ngrok.app which won't change. 
 
-Once you have ngrok working, edit the `.env` file and change the `SERVER_NAME` variable to your new domain name. 
+Once you have ngrok working, edit the `.env` file and change the `SERVER_NAME` variable to your new domain name (all lower case).
 
 <div id="running-piefed-in-production"></div>
 
diff --git a/app/community/util.py b/app/community/util.py
index 17b75643..9abffe5c 100644
--- a/app/community/util.py
+++ b/app/community/util.py
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ def search_for_community(address: str):
             reason = f" Reason: {banned.reason}" if banned.reason is not None else ''
             raise Exception(f"{server} is blocked.{reason}")  # todo: create custom exception class hierarchy
 
+        if current_app.config['SERVER_NAME'] == server:
+            already_exists = Community.query.filter_by(name=name, ap_id=None).first()
+            return already_exists
+
         already_exists = Community.query.filter_by(ap_id=address[1:]).first()
         if already_exists:
             return already_exists