diff --git a/clients/android/NewsBlur/src/com/newsblur/network/domain/NewsBlurResponse.java b/clients/android/NewsBlur/src/com/newsblur/network/domain/NewsBlurResponse.java
index ddd46536d..5bc485787 100644
--- a/clients/android/NewsBlur/src/com/newsblur/network/domain/NewsBlurResponse.java
+++ b/clients/android/NewsBlur/src/com/newsblur/network/domain/NewsBlurResponse.java
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ package com.newsblur.network.domain;
 
 import android.util.Log;
 
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
 /**
  * A generic response to an API call that only encapsuates success versus failure.
  */
@@ -13,6 +16,8 @@ public class NewsBlurResponse {
 	public ResponseErrors errors;
     public long readTime;
 
+    public static final Pattern KnownUserErrors = Pattern.compile("cannot mark as unread");
+
     public boolean isError() {
         if ((message != null) && (!message.equals(""))) {
             Log.d(this.getClass().getName(), "Response interpreted as error due to 'message' field: " + message);
@@ -25,6 +30,20 @@ public class NewsBlurResponse {
         return false;
     }
 
+    // TODO: can we add a canonical flag of some sort to 100% of API responses that differentiates
+    //       between 400-type and 2/3/500-type errors? Until then, we have to sniff known bad ones.
+    public boolean isUserError() {
+        if (message != null) {
+            Matcher m = KnownUserErrors.matcher(message);
+            if (m.find()) return true;
+        }
+        if ((errors != null) && (errors.message.length > 0) && (errors.message[0] != null)) {
+            Matcher m = KnownUserErrors.matcher(errors.message[0]);
+            if (m.find()) return true;
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Gets the error message returned by the API, or defaultMessage if none was found.
      */
diff --git a/clients/android/NewsBlur/src/com/newsblur/service/NBSyncService.java b/clients/android/NewsBlur/src/com/newsblur/service/NBSyncService.java
index aed3a6448..1ed0480ea 100644
--- a/clients/android/NewsBlur/src/com/newsblur/service/NBSyncService.java
+++ b/clients/android/NewsBlur/src/com/newsblur/service/NBSyncService.java
@@ -307,7 +307,11 @@ public class NBSyncService extends Service {
                 // if we attempted a call and it failed, do not mark the action as done
                 if (response != null) {
                     if (response.isError()) {
-                        continue actionsloop;
+                        if (response.isUserError()) {
+                            Log.d(this.getClass().getName(), "Discarding reading action with user error.");
+                        } else {
+                            continue actionsloop;
+                        }
                     }
                 }