diff --git a/app/api/alpha/views.py b/app/api/alpha/views.py
index d0a93d86..a00dae5e 100644
--- a/app/api/alpha/views.py
+++ b/app/api/alpha/views.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
 from app import cache, db
 from app.constants import *
 from app.models import Community, CommunityMember, Post, PostReply, PostVote, User
diff --git a/app/utils.py b/app/utils.py
index 4b39a7a8..ef022242 100644
--- a/app/utils.py
+++ b/app/utils.py
@@ -102,14 +102,14 @@ def get_request(uri, params=None, headers=None) -> httpx.Response:
             response = httpx_client.get(uri, params=payload_str, headers=headers, timeout=timeout * 2, follow_redirects=True)
         except Exception as e:
             current_app.logger.info(f"{uri} {connection_error}")
-            raise httpx_client.ReadError from connection_error
+            raise httpx_client.ReadError(f"HTTPReadError: {str(e)}") from connection_error
     except httpx.HTTPError as read_timeout:
         try:    # retry, this time with a longer timeout
             sleep(random.randint(3, 10))
             response = httpx_client.get(uri, params=payload_str, headers=headers, timeout=timeout * 2, follow_redirects=True)
         except Exception as e:
             current_app.logger.info(f"{uri} {read_timeout}")
-            raise httpx.HTTPError from read_timeout
+            raise httpx.HTTPError(f"HTTPError: {str(e)}") from read_timeout
 
     return response
 
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ def head_request(uri, params=None, headers=None) -> httpx.Response:
         response = httpx_client.head(uri, params=params, headers=headers, timeout=5, allow_redirects=True)
     except httpx.HTTPError as er:
         current_app.logger.info(f"{uri} {er}")
-        raise httpx.HTTPError from er
+        raise httpx.HTTPError(f"HTTPError: {str(er)}") from er
 
     return response
 
diff --git a/pyfedi.py b/pyfedi.py
index c93b6f96..55132492 100644
--- a/pyfedi.py
+++ b/pyfedi.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ def app_context_processor():
     def getmtime(filename):
         return os.path.getmtime('app/static/' + filename)
     return dict(getmtime=getmtime, instance_domain=current_app.config['SERVER_NAME'], debug_mode=current_app.debug,
-                arrow=arrow, locale=g.locale,
+                arrow=arrow, locale=g.locale if hasattr(g, 'locale') else None,
                 POST_TYPE_LINK=POST_TYPE_LINK, POST_TYPE_IMAGE=POST_TYPE_IMAGE,
                 POST_TYPE_ARTICLE=POST_TYPE_ARTICLE, POST_TYPE_VIDEO=POST_TYPE_VIDEO, POST_TYPE_POLL=POST_TYPE_POLL,
                 SUBSCRIPTION_MODERATOR=SUBSCRIPTION_MODERATOR, SUBSCRIPTION_MEMBER=SUBSCRIPTION_MEMBER,