diff --git a/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/http/URIUtil.java b/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/http/URIUtil.java
index 90d44e9..887d860 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/http/URIUtil.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/cobbzilla/util/http/URIUtil.java
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ public class URIUtil {
 
     // adapted from https://stackoverflow.com/a/13592567/1251543
     public static Map<String, String> queryParams(String query) {
-        if (empty(query)) return Collections.emptyMap();
+        if (empty(query) || empty(query.trim()) || query.trim().equals("?")) return Collections.emptyMap();
         if (query.contains("?")) query = query.substring(query.indexOf("?")+1);
         final Map<String, String> query_pairs = new LinkedHashMap<>();
         final String[] pairs = query.split("&");