diff --git a/lib/components/user-identity-cache.react.js b/lib/components/user-identity-cache.react.js
--- a/lib/components/user-identity-cache.react.js
+++ b/lib/components/user-identity-cache.react.js
@@ -11,7 +11,9 @@
 import sleep from '../utils/sleep.js';
 
 const cacheTimeout = 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000; // one day
-const failedQueryCacheTimeout = 5 * 60 * 1000; // five minutes
+// If the query fails due to a timeout, we don't cache it
+// This forces a retry on the next request
+const failedQueryCacheTimeout = 0;
 const queryTimeout = 20 * 1000; // twenty seconds
 
 async function throwOnTimeout(identifier: string) {
@@ -172,7 +174,7 @@
             });
             continue;
           }
-          resultMap.set(userID, null);
+          resultMap.set(userID, undefined);
         }
         return resultMap;
       })();