diff --git a/libretroshare/src/gxs/rsgenexchange.cc b/libretroshare/src/gxs/rsgenexchange.cc
index a334f7e3d..c59da85de 100644
--- a/libretroshare/src/gxs/rsgenexchange.cc
+++ b/libretroshare/src/gxs/rsgenexchange.cc
@@ -1323,7 +1323,8 @@ bool RsGenExchange::getGroupData(const uint32_t &token, std::vector<RsGxsGrpItem
 				}
 			}
 			else if(data.bin_len > 0)
-				std::cerr << "(EE) RsGenExchange::getGroupData() Item type is probably not handled. Data is: " << RsUtil::BinToHex((unsigned char*)data.bin_data,std::min(50u,data.bin_len)) << ((data.bin_len>50)?"...":"") << std::endl;
+				//std::cerr << "(EE) RsGenExchange::getGroupData() Item type is probably not handled. Data is: " << RsUtil::BinToHex((unsigned char*)data.bin_data,std::min(50u,data.bin_len)) << ((data.bin_len>50)?"...":"") << std::endl;
+				std::cerr << "(EE) RsGenExchange::getGroupData() Item type is probably not handled. Data is: " << RsUtil::BinToHex((unsigned char*)data.bin_data,data.bin_len) << std::endl;
 
 			delete *lit;
 		}
diff --git a/libretroshare/src/rsitems/rsgxsiditems.cc b/libretroshare/src/rsitems/rsgxsiditems.cc
index 2daa65a49..cb5ed324e 100644
--- a/libretroshare/src/rsitems/rsgxsiditems.cc
+++ b/libretroshare/src/rsitems/rsgxsiditems.cc
@@ -234,6 +234,12 @@ void RsGxsIdGroupItem::serial_process(RsGenericSerializer::SerializeJob j,RsGene
     RsTlvStringSetRef rset(TLV_TYPE_RECOGNSET,mRecognTags) ;
 
     RsTypeSerializer::serial_process<RsTlvItem>(j,ctx,rset,"mRecognTags") ;
+
+    // image is optional
+
+    if(j == RsGenericSerializer::DESERIALIZE && ctx.mOffset == ctx.mSize)
+        return ;
+
     RsTypeSerializer::serial_process<RsTlvItem>(j,ctx,mImage,"mImage") ;
 }