diff --git a/src/Hash2Pub/DHTProtocol.hs b/src/Hash2Pub/DHTProtocol.hs
index a194dbb..69995bd 100644
--- a/src/Hash2Pub/DHTProtocol.hs
+++ b/src/Hash2Pub/DHTProtocol.hs
@@ -106,9 +106,6 @@ queryLocalCache ownState nCache lBestNodes targetID
     -- the closest succeeding node (like with the p initiated parallel queries
       | otherwise = FORWARD $ closestSuccessor `Set.union` closestCachePredecessors (lBestNodes-1) targetID nCache
   where
-    ownID = getNid ownState
-    preds = predecessors ownState
-
     closestSuccessor :: Set.Set RemoteCacheEntry
     closestSuccessor = maybe Set.empty (Set.singleton . toRemoteCacheEntry) $ cacheLookupSucc targetID nCache
 
@@ -433,7 +430,9 @@ respondJoin nsSTM msgSet = do
         let
             aRequestPart = Set.elemAt 0 msgSet
             senderNS = sender aRequestPart
-            responsibilityLookup = queryLocalCache nsSnap cache 1 (getNid senderNS)
+            -- if not joined yet, attract responsibility for
+            -- all keys to make bootstrapping possible
+            responsibilityLookup = if isJoined nsSnap then queryLocalCache nsSnap cache 1 (getNid senderNS) else FOUND (toRemoteNodeState nsSnap)
             thisNodeResponsible (FOUND _)   = True
             thisNodeResponsible (FORWARD _) = False
         -- check whether the joining node falls into our responsibility