diff --git a/src/database/abstraction/sqlite.rs b/src/database/abstraction/sqlite.rs
index 0dbb2615..72fb5f7f 100644
--- a/src/database/abstraction/sqlite.rs
+++ b/src/database/abstraction/sqlite.rs
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ impl Engine {
         conn.pragma_update(Some(Main), "journal_mode", &"WAL")?;
         conn.pragma_update(Some(Main), "synchronous", &"NORMAL")?;
         conn.pragma_update(Some(Main), "cache_size", &(-i64::from(cache_size_kb)))?;
+        conn.pragma_update(Some(Main), "wal_autocheckpoint", &0)?;
 
         Ok(conn)
     }
diff --git a/src/server_server.rs b/src/server_server.rs
index 45d90226..9ae42ad6 100644
--- a/src/server_server.rs
+++ b/src/server_server.rs
@@ -228,11 +228,9 @@ where
         .headers_mut()
         .insert(HOST, HeaderValue::from_str(&host).unwrap());
 
-    let mut reqwest_request = reqwest::Request::try_from(http_request)
+    let reqwest_request = reqwest::Request::try_from(http_request)
         .expect("all http requests are valid reqwest requests");
 
-    *reqwest_request.timeout_mut() = Some(Duration::from_secs(30));
-
     let url = reqwest_request.url().clone();
     let response = globals.reqwest_client().execute(reqwest_request).await;
 
@@ -273,7 +271,10 @@ where
 
             if status == 200 {
                 let response = T::IncomingResponse::try_from_http_response(http_response);
-                response.map_err(|_| Error::BadServerResponse("Server returned bad 200 response."))
+                response.map_err(|e| {
+                    warn!("Invalid 200 response: {}", e);
+                    Error::BadServerResponse("Server returned bad 200 response.")
+                })
             } else {
                 Err(Error::FederationError(
                     destination.to_owned(),