diff --git a/actions/apimediaupload.php b/actions/apimediaupload.php
index 6f8781fab5..2d81af157e 100644
--- a/actions/apimediaupload.php
+++ b/actions/apimediaupload.php
@@ -26,9 +26,7 @@
  * @link      http://status.net/
  */
 
-if (!defined('STATUSNET')) {
-    exit(1);
-}
+if (!defined('GNUSOCIAL')) { exit(1); }
 
 /**
  * Upload an image via the API.  Returns a shortened URL for the image
@@ -42,6 +40,8 @@ if (!defined('STATUSNET')) {
  */
 class ApiMediaUploadAction extends ApiAuthAction
 {
+    protected $needPost = true;
+
     /**
      * Handle the request
      *
@@ -53,17 +53,9 @@ class ApiMediaUploadAction extends ApiAuthAction
      *
      * @return void
      */
-    function handle($args)
+    protected function handle()
     {
-        parent::handle($args);
-
-        if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] != 'POST') {
-            $this->clientError(
-                // TRANS: Client error. POST is a HTTP command. It should not be translated.
-                _('This method requires a POST.'),
-                400, $this->format
-            );
-        }
+        parent::handle();
 
         // Workaround for PHP returning empty $_POST and $_FILES when POST
         // length > post_max_size in php.ini
@@ -80,31 +72,21 @@ class ApiMediaUploadAction extends ApiAuthAction
             $this->clientError(sprintf($msg, $_SERVER['CONTENT_LENGTH']));
         }
 
-        $upload = null;
+        // we could catch "NoUploadedMediaException" as "no media uploaded", but here we _always_ want an upload
+        $upload = MediaFile::fromUpload('media', $this->auth_user->getProfile());
 
-        try {
-            $upload = MediaFile::fromUpload('media', $this->auth_user->getProfile());
-        } catch (Exception $e) {
-            $this->clientError($e->getMessage(), $e->getCode());
-        }
-
-        if (isset($upload)) {
-            $this->showResponse($upload);
-        } else {
-            // TRANS: Client error displayed when uploading a media file has failed.
-            $this->clientError(_('Upload failed.'));
-        }
+        $this->showResponse($upload);
     }
 
     /**
      * Show a Twitpic-like response with the ID of the media file
      * and a (hopefully) shortened URL for it.
      *
-     * @param File $upload  the uploaded file
+     * @param MediaFile $upload  the uploaded file
      *
      * @return void
      */
-    function showResponse($upload)
+    function showResponse(MediaFile $upload)
     {
         $this->initDocument();
         $this->elementStart('rsp', array('stat' => 'ok'));
diff --git a/actions/apistatusesupdate.php b/actions/apistatusesupdate.php
index d5fc7c9945..6b876c8f11 100644
--- a/actions/apistatusesupdate.php
+++ b/actions/apistatusesupdate.php
@@ -245,24 +245,19 @@ class ApiStatusesUpdateAction extends ApiAuthAction
             }
 
             $upload = null;
-
             try {
                 $upload = MediaFile::fromUpload('media', $this->scoped);
-            } catch (Exception $e) {
-                $this->clientError($e->getMessage(), $e->getCode());
-            }
-
-            if ($upload instanceof MediaFile) {
                 $this->status .= ' ' . $upload->shortUrl();
-
                 /* Do not call shortenlinks until the whole notice has been build */
+            } catch (NoUploadedMediaException $e) {
+                // There was no uploaded media for us today.
             }
 
             /* Do call shortenlinks here & check notice length since notice is about to be saved & sent */
             $status_shortened = $this->auth_user->shortenlinks($this->status);
 
             if (Notice::contentTooLong($status_shortened)) {
-                if (isset($upload)) {
+                if ($upload instanceof MediaFile) {
                     $upload->delete();
                 }
                 // TRANS: Client error displayed exceeding the maximum notice length.
diff --git a/actions/newnotice.php b/actions/newnotice.php
index ca770f38b6..d1e47fec5c 100644
--- a/actions/newnotice.php
+++ b/actions/newnotice.php
@@ -129,10 +129,10 @@ class NewnoticeAction extends FormAction
             $options['reply_to'] = $replyto;
         }
 
-        $upload = MediaFile::fromUpload('attach', $this->scoped);
-
-        if (isset($upload)) {
-
+        $upload = null;
+        try {
+            // throws exception on failure
+            $upload = MediaFile::fromUpload('attach', $this->scoped);
             if (Event::handle('StartSaveNewNoticeAppendAttachment', array($this, $upload, &$content_shortened, &$options))) {
                 $content_shortened .= ' ' . $upload->shortUrl();
             }
@@ -147,8 +147,11 @@ class NewnoticeAction extends FormAction
                                               Notice::maxContent()),
                                            Notice::maxContent()));
             }
+        } catch (NoUploadedMediaException $e) {
+            // simply no attached media to the new notice
         }
 
+
         if ($this->scoped->shareLocation()) {
             // use browser data if checked; otherwise profile data
             if ($this->arg('notice_data-geo')) {
@@ -179,7 +182,7 @@ class NewnoticeAction extends FormAction
 
             $this->stored = Notice::saveNew($this->scoped->id, $content_shortened, 'web', $options);
 
-            if (isset($upload)) {
+            if ($upload instanceof MediaFile) {
                 $upload->attachToNotice($this->stored);
             }
 
diff --git a/lib/mediafile.php b/lib/mediafile.php
index 92a069facf..4ac33ab7e1 100644
--- a/lib/mediafile.php
+++ b/lib/mediafile.php
@@ -147,14 +147,15 @@ class MediaFile
         }
     }
 
-    static function fromUpload($param = 'media', Profile $scoped)
+    static function fromUpload($param='media', Profile $scoped=null)
     {
         if (is_null($scoped)) {
             $scoped = Profile::current();
         }
 
-        if (!isset($_FILES[$param]['error'])){
-            return;
+        // The existence of the "error" element means PHP has processed it properly even if it was ok.
+        if (!isset($_FILES[$param]) || !isset($_FILES[$param]['error'])) {
+            throw new NoUploadedMediaException($param);
         }
 
         switch ($_FILES[$param]['error']) {
diff --git a/lib/nouploadedmediaexception.php b/lib/nouploadedmediaexception.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb52db70cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/nouploadedmediaexception.php
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+<?php
+
+if (!defined('GNUSOCIAL')) { exit(1); }
+
+/**
+ * Parent class for an exception when a POST upload does not contain a file.
+ *
+ * @category Exception
+ * @package  GNUsocial
+ * @author   Mikael Nordfeldth <mmn@hethane.se>
+ * @license  http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html AGPLv3
+ * @link     http://gnu.io/
+ */
+
+class NoUploadedMediaException extends ClientException
+{
+    public $fieldname = null;
+
+    public function __construct($fieldname, $msg=null)
+    {
+        $this->fieldname = $fieldname;
+
+        if ($msg === null) {
+            // TRANS: Exception text shown when no uploaded media was provided in POST
+            // TRANS: %s is the HTML input field name.
+            $msg = sprintf(_('There is no uploaded media for input field "%s".'), $this->fieldname);
+        }
+
+        parent::__construct($msg, 400);
+    }
+}