diff --git a/actions/apistatusesupdate.php b/actions/apistatusesupdate.php
index 09663ac7c2..f2c70f5452 100644
--- a/actions/apistatusesupdate.php
+++ b/actions/apistatusesupdate.php
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ class ApiStatusesUpdateAction extends ApiAuthAction
             foreach (array_unique($matches[0]) as $match) {
                 try {
                     $this->media_ids[$match] = File::getByID($match);
-                } catch (EmptyIdException $e) {
+                } catch (EmptyPkeyValueException $e) {
                     // got a zero from the client, at least Twidere does this on occasion
                 } catch (NoResultException $e) {
                     // File ID was not found. Do we abort and report to the client?
diff --git a/classes/File.php b/classes/File.php
index 1a38aefa72..b28f1373d6 100644
--- a/classes/File.php
+++ b/classes/File.php
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ class File extends Managed_DataObject
                         // $args['attachment'] should always be set if action===attachment, given our routing rules
                         $file = File::getByID($args['attachment']);
                         return $file;
-                    } catch (EmptyIdException $e) {
+                    } catch (EmptyPkeyValueException $e) {
                         // ...but $args['attachment'] can also be 0...
                     } catch (NoResultException $e) {
                         // apparently this link goes to us, but is _not_ an existing attachment (File) ID?
diff --git a/classes/Managed_DataObject.php b/classes/Managed_DataObject.php
index 5b22672d7b..89263ee778 100644
--- a/classes/Managed_DataObject.php
+++ b/classes/Managed_DataObject.php
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@ abstract class Managed_DataObject extends Memcached_DataObject
     static function getByID($id)
     {
         if (empty($id)) {
-            throw new EmptyIdException(get_called_class());
+            throw new EmptyPkeyValueException(get_called_class(), 'id');
         }
         // getByPK throws exception if id is null
         // or if the class does not have a single 'id' column as primary key
diff --git a/classes/Notice.php b/classes/Notice.php
index c130cccc26..96f4769af2 100644
--- a/classes/Notice.php
+++ b/classes/Notice.php
@@ -2683,7 +2683,7 @@ class Notice extends Managed_DataObject
     public static function getAsTimestamp($id)
     {
         if (empty($id)) {
-            throw new EmptyIdException('Notice');
+            throw new EmptyPkeyValueException('Notice', 'id');
         }
 
         $timestamp = null;
diff --git a/lib/emptyidexception.php b/lib/emptypkeyvalueexception.php
similarity index 73%
rename from lib/emptyidexception.php
rename to lib/emptypkeyvalueexception.php
index ddf781b067..4470b7ba31 100644
--- a/lib/emptyidexception.php
+++ b/lib/emptypkeyvalueexception.php
@@ -29,10 +29,13 @@
 
 if (!defined('GNUSOCIAL')) { exit(1); }
 
-class EmptyIdException extends ServerException
+class EmptyPkeyValueException extends ServerException
 {
-    public function __construct($called_class)
+    public function __construct($called_class, $key=null)
     {
-        parent::__construct(sprintf(_('Empty ID value was given to query for a "%s" object'), $called_class));
+        // FIXME: translate the 'not specified' case?
+        parent::__construct(sprintf(_('Empty primary key (%1$s) value was given to query for a "%2$s" object'),
+                                        is_null($key) ? 'not specified' : _ve($key),
+                                        $called_class));
     }
 }
diff --git a/plugins/Favorite/classes/Fave.php b/plugins/Favorite/classes/Fave.php
index c9bb7a6dd2..fb5575c0d4 100644
--- a/plugins/Favorite/classes/Fave.php
+++ b/plugins/Favorite/classes/Fave.php
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ class Fave extends Managed_DataObject
         } catch (NoResultException $e) {
             // In case there's some inconsistency where the profile or notice was deleted without losing the fave db entry
             common_log(LOG_INFO, '"'.get_class($e->obj).'" with id=='.var_export($e->obj->id, true).' object not found when deleting favorite, ignoring...');
-        } catch (EmptyIdException $e) {
+        } catch (EmptyPkeyValueException $e) {
             // Some buggy instances of GNU social have had favorites with notice id==0 stored in the database
             common_log(LOG_INFO, _ve($e->getMessage()));
         }