@reset @svanharmelen if you leave out the protocol and/or use an IPV6 address:

```text
[1] pry(main)> require 'uri'
=> true
[2] pry(main)> URI.join('google.com', 'landing')
URI::BadURIError: both URI are relative
from /Users/sethvargo/.rubies/ruby-2.1.1/lib/ruby/2.1.0/uri/generic.rb:1203:in `rescue in merge'
```