diff --git a/app/controllers/iqdb_queries_controller.rb b/app/controllers/iqdb_queries_controller.rb
index 3b0a5e334..8f1393ed2 100644
--- a/app/controllers/iqdb_queries_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/iqdb_queries_controller.rb
@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@ class IqdbQueriesController < ApplicationController
 
   def create
     if !Danbooru.config.iqdbs_server
-      render :nothing => true
-      return
+      raise NotImplementedError.new("the IQDBs service isn't configured. Similarity searches are not available.")
     end
 
     if params[:url]
@@ -32,4 +31,4 @@ protected
     @results = @download.matches
     render :layout => false, :action => "create_by_post"
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end