diff --git a/core/core.go b/core/core.go
index 6262b1cc72fe..94c9e9d39f54 100644
--- a/core/core.go
+++ b/core/core.go
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ import (
 	ctxc "github.com/jbenet/go-ipfs/util/ctxcloser"
 )
 
+const IpnsValidatorTag = "ipns"
+
 var log = u.Logger("core")
 
 // IpfsNode is IPFS Core module. It represents an IPFS instance.
@@ -144,7 +146,7 @@ func NewIpfsNode(cfg *config.Config, online bool) (n *IpfsNode, err error) {
 
 		// setup routing service
 		dhtRouting := dht.NewDHT(ctx, n.Identity, n.Peerstore, n.Network, dhtService, n.Datastore)
-		dhtRouting.Validators["ipns"] = namesys.ValidateIpnsRecord
+		dhtRouting.Validators[IpnsValidatorTag] = namesys.ValidateIpnsRecord
 
 		// TODO(brian): perform this inside NewDHT factory method
 		dhtService.SetHandler(dhtRouting) // wire the handler to the service.
diff --git a/namesys/publisher.go b/namesys/publisher.go
index 5b2da0c17c9e..a6be2a570b90 100644
--- a/namesys/publisher.go
+++ b/namesys/publisher.go
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ func createRoutingEntryData(pk ci.PrivKey, val string) ([]byte, error) {
 	entry.Value = []byte(val)
 	typ := pb.IpnsEntry_EOL
 	entry.ValidityType = &typ
-	entry.Validity = []byte(time.Now().Add(time.Hour * 24).String())
+	entry.Validity = []byte(u.FormatRFC3339(time.Now().Add(time.Hour * 24)))
 
 	sig, err := pk.Sign(ipnsEntryDataForSig(entry))
 	if err != nil {
@@ -119,8 +119,7 @@ func ValidateIpnsRecord(k u.Key, val []byte) error {
 	}
 	switch entry.GetValidityType() {
 	case pb.IpnsEntry_EOL:
-		defaultTimeFormat := "2006-01-02 15:04:05.999999999 -0700 MST"
-		t, err := time.Parse(defaultTimeFormat, string(entry.GetValue()))
+		t, err := u.ParseRFC3339(string(entry.GetValue()))
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Error("Failed parsing time for ipns record EOL")
 			return err
diff --git a/routing/dht/dht.go b/routing/dht/dht.go
index db17f9e7ebbc..efe457c6585c 100644
--- a/routing/dht/dht.go
+++ b/routing/dht/dht.go
@@ -273,6 +273,7 @@ func (dht *IpfsDHT) getValueOrPeers(ctx context.Context, p peer.Peer,
 		// make sure record is still valid
 		err = dht.verifyRecord(record)
 		if err != nil {
+			log.Error("Received invalid record!")
 			return nil, nil, err
 		}
 		return record.GetValue(), nil, nil