diff --git a/scripts/eressea/autoseed.lua b/scripts/eressea/autoseed.lua
index 25a799ff4..e5cd2e478 100644
--- a/scripts/eressea/autoseed.lua
+++ b/scripts/eressea/autoseed.lua
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ local function read_players()
         local str = input:read("*line")
         if str==nil then break end
         local email, race, lang = str:match("([^ ]*) ([^ ]*) ([^ ]*)")
-        if string.char(string.byte(email, 1))~='#' then
+        if email and string.char(string.byte(email, 1))~='#' then
             table.insert(players, { race = race, lang = lang, email = email })
         end
     end
diff --git a/src/buildno.h b/src/buildno.h
index 7f9758de0..a8f4772c5 100644
--- a/src/buildno.h
+++ b/src/buildno.h
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #define VERSION_MAJOR 3
 #define VERSION_MINOR 8
-#define VERSION_BUILD 9
+#define VERSION_BUILD 10