diff --git a/fanficfare/adapters/base_xenforoforum_adapter.py b/fanficfare/adapters/base_xenforoforum_adapter.py
index 828c0ed0..bec569bc 100644
--- a/fanficfare/adapters/base_xenforoforum_adapter.py
+++ b/fanficfare/adapters/base_xenforoforum_adapter.py
@@ -618,12 +618,20 @@ class BaseXenForoForumAdapter(BaseSiteAdapter):
 
     def parse_author(self,souptag):
         a = souptag.find('h3',{'class':'userText'}).find('a')
-        self.story.addToList('authorId',a['href'].split('/')[1])
-        authorUrl = self.getURLPrefix()+a['href']
-        self.story.addToList('authorUrl',authorUrl)
         self.story.addToList('author',a.text)
-        # logger.debug("author_avatar_cover:%s"%self.getConfig('author_avatar_cover'))
-        if self.getConfig('author_avatar_cover'):
+        authorUrl = None
+        if a.has_attr('href'):
+            self.story.addToList('authorId',a['href'].split('/')[1])
+            authorUrl = self.getURLPrefix()+a['href']
+            self.story.addToList('authorUrl',authorUrl)
+            # logger.debug("author_avatar_cover:%s"%self.getConfig('author_avatar_cover'))
+        else:
+            # No author link found--it's a rare case, but at least one
+            # thread had a 'Guest' account author.
+            self.story.setMetadata('authorUrl',self.getURLPrefix())
+            self.story.setMetadata('authorId','0')
+
+        if self.getConfig('author_avatar_cover') and authorUrl:
             authorcard = self.make_soup(self.get_request(authorUrl))
             # logger.debug(authorcard)
             coverimg = authorcard.find('div',{'class':'avatarScaler'}).find('img')