diff --git a/include/cron.php b/include/cron.php
index c92396dc7a..730325ba8c 100644
--- a/include/cron.php
+++ b/include/cron.php
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ if (!file_exists("boot.php") AND (sizeof($_SERVER["argv"]) != 0)) {
 
 require_once("boot.php");
 require_once("include/photos.php");
+require_once("include/user.php");
 
 
 function cron_run(&$argv, &$argc){
@@ -454,6 +455,16 @@ function cron_repair_diaspora(&$a) {
  */
 function cron_repair_database() {
 
+	// Sometimes there seem to be issues where the "self" contact vanishes.
+	// We haven't found the origin of the problem by now.
+	$r = q("SELECT `uid` FROM `user` WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT `uid` FROM `contact` WHERE `contact`.`uid` = `user`.`uid` AND `contact`.`self`)");
+	if (dbm::is_result($r)) {
+		foreach ($r AS $user) {
+			logger('Create missing self contact for user '.$user['uid']);
+			user_create_self_contact($user['uid']);
+		}
+	}
+
 	// Set the parent if it wasn't set. (Shouldn't happen - but does sometimes)
 	// This call is very "cheap" so we can do it at any time without a problem
 	q("UPDATE `item` INNER JOIN `item` AS `parent` ON `parent`.`uri` = `item`.`parent-uri` AND `parent`.`uid` = `item`.`uid` SET `item`.`parent` = `parent`.`id` WHERE `item`.`parent` = 0");
diff --git a/include/user.php b/include/user.php
index 5e8014abf8..989c8b0e04 100644
--- a/include/user.php
+++ b/include/user.php
@@ -269,28 +269,9 @@ function create_user($arr) {
 				intval($newuid));
 			return $result;
 		}
-		$r = q("INSERT INTO `contact` ( `uid`, `created`, `self`, `name`, `nick`, `photo`, `thumb`, `micro`, `blocked`, `pending`, `url`, `nurl`,
-			`addr`, `request`, `notify`, `poll`, `confirm`, `poco`, `name-date`, `uri-date`, `avatar-date`, `closeness` )
-			VALUES ( %d, '%s', 1, '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', 0, 0, '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', 0 ) ",
-			intval($newuid),
-			datetime_convert(),
-			dbesc($username),
-			dbesc($nickname),
-			dbesc(z_root() . "/photo/profile/{$newuid}.jpg"),
-			dbesc(z_root() . "/photo/avatar/{$newuid}.jpg"),
-			dbesc(z_root() . "/photo/micro/{$newuid}.jpg"),
-			dbesc(z_root() . "/profile/$nickname"),
-			dbesc(normalise_link(z_root() . "/profile/$nickname")),
-			dbesc($nickname . '@' . substr(z_root(), strpos(z_root(),'://') + 3 )),
-			dbesc(z_root() . "/dfrn_request/$nickname"),
-			dbesc(z_root() . "/dfrn_notify/$nickname"),
-			dbesc(z_root() . "/dfrn_poll/$nickname"),
-			dbesc(z_root() . "/dfrn_confirm/$nickname"),
-			dbesc(z_root() . "/poco/$nickname"),
-			dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-			dbesc(datetime_convert()),
-			dbesc(datetime_convert())
-		);
+
+		// Create the self contact
+		user_create_self_contact($newuid);
 
 		// Create a group with no members. This allows somebody to use it
 		// right away as a default group for new contacts.
@@ -377,6 +358,49 @@ function create_user($arr) {
 
 }
 
+/**
+ * @brief create the "self" contact from data from the user table
+ *
+ * @param integer $uid
+ */
+function user_create_self_contact($uid) {
+
+	// Only create the entry if it doesn't exist yet
+	$r = q("SELECT `id` FROM `contact` WHERE `uid` = %d AND `self`", intval($uid));
+	if (dbm::is_result($r)) {
+		return;
+	}
+
+	$r = q("SELECT `uid`, `username`, `nickname` FROM `user` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
+	if (!dbm::is_result($r)) {
+		return;
+	}
+
+	$user = $r[0];
+
+	q("INSERT INTO `contact` (`uid`, `created`, `self`, `name`, `nick`, `photo`, `thumb`, `micro`, `blocked`, `pending`, `url`, `nurl`,
+		`addr`, `request`, `notify`, `poll`, `confirm`, `poco`, `name-date`, `uri-date`, `avatar-date`, `closeness`)
+		VALUES (%d, '%s', 1, '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', 0, 0, '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', '%s', 0)",
+		intval($user['uid']),
+		datetime_convert(),
+		dbesc($user['username']),
+		dbesc($user['nickname']),
+		dbesc(z_root()."/photo/profile/".$user['uid'].".jpg"),
+		dbesc(z_root()."/photo/avatar/".$user['uid'].".jpg"),
+		dbesc(z_root()."/photo/micro/".$user['uid'].".jpg"),
+		dbesc(z_root()."/profile/".$user['nickname']),
+		dbesc(normalise_link(z_root()."/profile/".$user['nickname'])),
+		dbesc($user['nickname'].'@'.substr(z_root(), strpos(z_root(),'://') + 3)),
+		dbesc(z_root()."/dfrn_request/".$user['nickname']),
+		dbesc(z_root()."/dfrn_notify/".$user['nickname']),
+		dbesc(z_root()."/dfrn_poll/".$user['nickname']),
+		dbesc(z_root()."/dfrn_confirm/".$user['nickname']),
+		dbesc(z_root()."/poco/".$user['nickname']),
+		dbesc(datetime_convert()),
+		dbesc(datetime_convert()),
+		dbesc(datetime_convert())
+	);
+}
 
 /**
  * @brief send registration confiŕmation with the intormation that reg is pending