diff --git a/functions.php b/functions.php
index 629b78cb..40b32df8 100644
--- a/functions.php
+++ b/functions.php
@@ -988,7 +988,7 @@
 //			db_query($link, "COMMIT");
 
 		} else {
-			$error_msg = db_escape_string(magpie_error());
+			$error_msg = mb_substr(db_escape_string(magpie_error()), 0, 250);
 			db_query($link, 
 				"UPDATE ttrss_feeds SET last_error = '$error_msg', 
 					last_updated = NOW() WHERE id = '$feed'");
diff --git a/schema/ttrss_schema_mysql.sql b/schema/ttrss_schema_mysql.sql
index 2fd4abb6..f1a001db 100644
--- a/schema/ttrss_schema_mysql.sql
+++ b/schema/ttrss_schema_mysql.sql
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ create table ttrss_feeds (id integer not null auto_increment primary key,
 	update_interval integer not null default 0,
 	purge_interval integer not null default 0,
 	last_updated datetime default 0,
-	last_error text not null default '',
+	last_error varchar(250) not null default '',
 	site_url varchar(250) not null default '',
 	auth_login varchar(250) not null default '',
 	auth_pass varchar(250) not null default '',
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ create table ttrss_prefs (pref_name varchar(250) not null primary key,
 	type_id integer not null,
 	section_id integer not null default 1,
 	short_desc text not null,
-	help_text text not null default '',
+	help_text varchar(300) not null default '',
 	def_value text not null,
 	index(type_id),
 	foreign key (type_id) references ttrss_prefs_types(id),