diff --git a/bukkit/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/bukkit/LPBukkitBootstrap.java b/bukkit/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/bukkit/LPBukkitBootstrap.java
index 74d2af06..5ad588c7 100644
--- a/bukkit/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/bukkit/LPBukkitBootstrap.java
+++ b/bukkit/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/bukkit/LPBukkitBootstrap.java
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ public class LPBukkitBootstrap extends JavaPlugin implements LuckPermsBootstrap
     // load/enable latches
     private final CountDownLatch loadLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
     private final CountDownLatch enableLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+    private boolean serverStarting = true;
 
     // if the plugin has been loaded on an incompatible version
     private boolean incompatibleVersion = false;
@@ -150,6 +151,9 @@ public class LPBukkitBootstrap extends JavaPlugin implements LuckPermsBootstrap
         this.startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
         try {
             this.plugin.enable();
+
+            // schedule a task to update the 'serverStarting' flag
+            getServer().getScheduler().runTask(this, () -> this.serverStarting = false);
         } finally {
             this.enableLatch.countDown();
         }
@@ -162,6 +166,7 @@ public class LPBukkitBootstrap extends JavaPlugin implements LuckPermsBootstrap
         }
 
         this.plugin.disable();
+        this.serverStarting = true;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -174,6 +179,10 @@ public class LPBukkitBootstrap extends JavaPlugin implements LuckPermsBootstrap
         return this.loadLatch;
     }
 
+    public boolean isServerStarting() {
+        return this.serverStarting;
+    }
+
     // provide information about the plugin
 
     @Override
diff --git a/bukkit/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/bukkit/vault/VaultPermissionHook.java b/bukkit/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/bukkit/vault/VaultPermissionHook.java
index 2de88993..ef549ee6 100644
--- a/bukkit/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/bukkit/vault/VaultPermissionHook.java
+++ b/bukkit/src/main/java/me/lucko/luckperms/bukkit/vault/VaultPermissionHook.java
@@ -95,15 +95,15 @@ public class VaultPermissionHook extends AbstractVaultPermission {
         }
 
         // are we on the main thread?
-        if (Bukkit.isPrimaryThread() && !this.plugin.getConfiguration().get(ConfigKeys.VAULT_UNSAFE_LOOKUPS)) {
+        if (!plugin.getBootstrap().isServerStarting() && Bukkit.isPrimaryThread() && !this.plugin.getConfiguration().get(ConfigKeys.VAULT_UNSAFE_LOOKUPS)) {
             throw new RuntimeException(
-                    "Unable to lookup a UUID for '" + player + "'. \n" +
-                    "This request was made on the main server thread. \n" +
-                    "It is not safe to execute a request to load username data from the database in this context. \n" +
+                    "The operation to lookup a UUID for '" + player + "' was cancelled by LuckPerms. This is NOT a bug. \n" +
+                    "The lookup request was made on the main server thread. It is not safe to execute a request to \n" +
+                    "load username data from the database in this context. \n" +
                     "If you are a plugin author, please either make your request asynchronously, \n" +
                     "or provide an 'OfflinePlayer' object with the UUID already populated. \n" +
-                    "Server admins can disable this catch by setting 'vault-unsafe-lookups' to true in the LP config, \n" +
-                    "but should consider the consequences (lag) before doing so."
+                    "Alternatively, server admins can disable this catch by setting 'vault-unsafe-lookups' to true \n" +
+                    "in the LP config, but should consider the consequences (lag) before doing so."
             );
         }
 
@@ -131,14 +131,14 @@ public class VaultPermissionHook extends AbstractVaultPermission {
         }
 
         // are we on the main thread?
-        if (Bukkit.isPrimaryThread() && !this.plugin.getConfiguration().get(ConfigKeys.VAULT_UNSAFE_LOOKUPS)) {
+        if (!plugin.getBootstrap().isServerStarting() && Bukkit.isPrimaryThread() && !this.plugin.getConfiguration().get(ConfigKeys.VAULT_UNSAFE_LOOKUPS)) {
             throw new RuntimeException(
-                    "Unable to obtain user data for '" + uuid + "'. \n" +
-                    "This request was made on the main server thread. \n" +
-                    "It is not safe to execute a request to load user data from the database in this context. \n" +
+                    "The operation to load user data for '" + uuid + "' was cancelled by LuckPerms. This is NOT a bug. \n" +
+                    "The lookup request was made on the main server thread. It is not safe to execute a request to \n" +
+                    "load username data from the database in this context. \n" +
                     "If you are a plugin author, please consider making your request asynchronously. \n" +
-                    "Server admins can disable this catch by setting 'vault-unsafe-lookups' to true in the LP config, \n" +
-                    "but should consider the consequences (lag) before doing so."
+                    "Alternatively, server admins can disable this catch by setting 'vault-unsafe-lookups' to true \n" +
+                    "in the LP config, but should consider the consequences (lag) before doing so."
             );
         }