diff --git a/classes/User.php b/classes/User.php
index 8b0b9acd50..d9f30bec58 100644
--- a/classes/User.php
+++ b/classes/User.php
@@ -121,7 +121,8 @@ class User extends Memcached_DataObject
         static $blacklist = array('rss', 'xrds', 'doc', 'main',
                                   'settings', 'notice', 'user',
                                   'search', 'avatar', 'tag', 'tags',
-                                  'api', 'message', 'group', 'groups');
+                                  'api', 'message', 'group', 'groups',
+                                  'local');
         $merged = array_merge($blacklist, common_config('nickname', 'blacklist'));
         return !in_array($nickname, $merged);
     }
diff --git a/local/.gitignore b/local/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2