diff --git a/src/controllers/accounts.js b/src/controllers/accounts.js
index 06f2edd9b9..042b48f45a 100644
--- a/src/controllers/accounts.js
+++ b/src/controllers/accounts.js
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ function getUserDataByUserSlug(userslug, callerUID, callback) {
 			userData.disableSignatures = meta.config.disableSignatures !== undefined && parseInt(meta.config.disableSignatures, 10) === 1;
 			userData['email:confirmed'] = !!parseInt(userData['email:confirmed'], 10);
 			userData.profile_links = results.profile_links;
-			userData.status = !websockets.isUserOnline(userData.uid) ? 'offline' : userData.status;
+			userData.status = websockets.isUserOnline(userData.uid) ? (userData.status || 'online') : 'offline';
 			userData.banned = parseInt(userData.banned, 10) === 1;
 			userData.websiteName = userData.website.replace('http://', '').replace('https://', '');
 
diff --git a/src/posts.js b/src/posts.js
index 9e3877d55e..a12dd12ad3 100644
--- a/src/posts.js
+++ b/src/posts.js
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ var async = require('async'),
 			var userData = results.userData;
 			for(var i=0; i<userData.length; ++i) {
 				userData[i].groups = results.groups[i];
-				userData[i].status = !results.online[i] ? 'offline' : userData[i].status;
+				userData[i].status = results.online[i] ? (userData[i].status || 'online') : 'offline';
 			}
 
 			async.map(userData, function(userData, next) {