diff --git a/crates/apub/assets/lemmy-community.json b/crates/apub/assets/lemmy-community.json
index 10084c790..c54513ca3 100644
--- a/crates/apub/assets/lemmy-community.json
+++ b/crates/apub/assets/lemmy-community.json
@@ -33,9 +33,9 @@
     "url": "https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/waqyZwLAy4.webp"
   },
   "sensitive": false,
-  "moderators": "https://lemmy.ml/c/announcements/moderators",
+  "moderators": "https://lemmy.ml/c/announcements/not_moderators",
   "inbox": "https://lemmy.ml/c/announcements/inbox",
-  "outbox": "https://lemmy.ml/c/announcements/outbox",
+  "outbox": "https://lemmy.ml/c/announcements/not_outbox",
   "followers": "https://lemmy.ml/c/announcements/followers",
   "endpoints": {
     "sharedInbox": "https://lemmy.ml/inbox"
diff --git a/crates/apub/src/objects/community.rs b/crates/apub/src/objects/community.rs
index 028da3c45..5b929379e 100644
--- a/crates/apub/src/objects/community.rs
+++ b/crates/apub/src/objects/community.rs
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ use lemmy_utils::{
   LemmyError,
 };
 use lemmy_websocket::LemmyContext;
+use log::debug;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use serde_with::skip_serializing_none;
 use std::ops::Deref;
@@ -263,11 +264,19 @@ impl FromApub for ApubCommunity {
   ) -> Result<ApubCommunity, LemmyError> {
     let form = Group::from_apub_to_form(group, expected_domain, &context.settings()).await?;
 
+    // Fetching mods and outbox is not necessary for Lemmy to work, so ignore errors. Besides,
+    // we need to ignore these errors so that tests can work entirely offline.
     let community = blocking(context.pool(), move |conn| Community::upsert(conn, &form)).await??;
-    update_community_mods(group, &community, context, request_counter).await?;
+    update_community_mods(group, &community, context, request_counter)
+      .await
+      .map_err(|e| debug!("{}", e))
+      .ok();
 
     // TODO: doing this unconditionally might cause infinite loop for some reason
-    fetch_community_outbox(context, &group.outbox, request_counter).await?;
+    fetch_community_outbox(context, &group.outbox, request_counter)
+      .await
+      .map_err(|e| debug!("{}", e))
+      .ok();
 
     Ok(community.into())
   }
@@ -326,9 +335,7 @@ mod tests {
     assert!(community.public_key.is_some());
     assert!(!community.local);
     assert_eq!(community.description.as_ref().unwrap().len(), 126);
-    // TODO: its fetching the outbox, mod collection, and probably users from the outbox. due to
-    //       caching and other things, this may change over multiple runs, so we cant assert it.
-    //       find a way to avoid any network requests
-    //assert_eq!(request_counter, 4);
+    // this makes two requests to the (intentionally) broken outbox/moderators collections
+    assert_eq!(request_counter, 2);
   }
 }
diff --git a/crates/apub/src/objects/post.rs b/crates/apub/src/objects/post.rs
index 136e7020d..4365eca8e 100644
--- a/crates/apub/src/objects/post.rs
+++ b/crates/apub/src/objects/post.rs
@@ -291,12 +291,16 @@ mod tests {
   async fn test_fetch_lemmy_post() {
     let context = init_context();
     let url = Url::parse("https://lemmy.ml/post/55143").unwrap();
-    let mut request_counter = -20;
     let community_json = file_to_json_object("assets/lemmy-community.json");
-    ApubCommunity::from_apub(&community_json, &context, &url, &mut request_counter)
+    ApubCommunity::from_apub(&community_json, &context, &url, &mut 0)
+      .await
+      .unwrap();
+    let person_json = file_to_json_object("assets/lemmy-person.json");
+    ApubPerson::from_apub(&person_json, &context, &url, &mut 0)
       .await
       .unwrap();
     let json = file_to_json_object("assets/lemmy-post.json");
+    let mut request_counter = 0;
     let post = ApubPost::from_apub(&json, &context, &url, &mut request_counter)
       .await
       .unwrap();
@@ -308,6 +312,6 @@ mod tests {
     assert!(!post.locked);
     assert!(post.stickied);
     // see comment in test_fetch_lemmy_community() about this
-    //assert_eq!(request_counter, 5);
+    assert_eq!(request_counter, 0);
   }
 }
diff --git a/scripts/update_apub_test_files.sh b/scripts/update_apub_test_files.sh
index ba394b816..d5384e4f8 100755
--- a/scripts/update_apub_test_files.sh
+++ b/scripts/update_apub_test_files.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ curl -H "Accept: application/activity+json" https://lemmy.ml/u/nutomic | jq \
     > crates/apub/assets/lemmy-person.json
 curl -H "Accept: application/activity+json" https://lemmy.ml/c/announcements | jq \
     > crates/apub/assets/lemmy-community.json
+# replace these collection links so that tests dont make any actual http requests
+sed -i 's/https:\/\/lemmy.ml\/c\/announcements\/outbox/https:\\/\\/lemmy.ml\\/c\\/announcements\\/not_outbox/g' crates/apub/assets/lemmy-community.json
+sed -i 's/https:\/\/lemmy.ml\/c\/announcements\/moderators/https:\\/\\/lemmy.ml\\/c\\/announcements\\/not_moderators/g' crates/apub/assets/lemmy-community.json
 curl -H "Accept: application/activity+json" https://lemmy.ml/post/55143 | jq \
     > crates/apub/assets/lemmy-post.json
 curl -H "Accept: application/activity+json" https://queer.hacktivis.me/users/lanodan | jq \