diff --git a/conf/config.properties b/conf/config.properties
index fd2d90c47..bb9199296 100644
--- a/conf/config.properties
+++ b/conf/config.properties
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ upgradeInterval = 86400000
 
 # settings to prevent DoS
 DoS.blackout = 100
-DoS.servicereduction = 1000
+DoS.servicereduction = 500
 
 # peer-to-peer back-end: this is used to assign a 'shadow' peer which
 # receives all message data that this peer creates
diff --git a/src/org/loklak/LoklakServer.java b/src/org/loklak/LoklakServer.java
index d109e5c18..453703d6e 100644
--- a/src/org/loklak/LoklakServer.java
+++ b/src/org/loklak/LoklakServer.java
@@ -419,6 +419,7 @@ private static void initializeHarvester() {
     private static void setupHttpServer(int httpPort, int httpsPort) throws Exception{
     	QueuedThreadPool pool = new QueuedThreadPool();
         pool.setMaxThreads(500);
+        pool.start();
         LoklakServer.server = new Server(pool);
         LoklakServer.server.setStopAtShutdown(true);
 
@@ -436,6 +437,7 @@ private static void setupHttpServer(int httpPort, int httpsPort) throws Exceptio
 	        connector.setPort(httpPort);
 	        connector.setName("httpd:" + httpPort);
 	        connector.setIdleTimeout(20000); // timout in ms when no bytes send / received
+	        connector.start();
 	        LoklakServer.server.addConnector(connector);
         }