diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/backend/FileStorageSetup.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/backend/FileStorageSetup.java
index e500f389a..17b1ee0d7 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/backend/FileStorageSetup.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/filestorage/backend/FileStorageSetup.java
@@ -97,9 +97,9 @@ public class FileStorageSetup implements ServletContextListener {
 		String defaultSuffix = "/individual/";
 
 		if (!defaultNamespace.endsWith(defaultSuffix)) {
-			throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-					"Default namespace does not match the expected form: '"
-							+ defaultNamespace + "'");
+			log.warn("Default namespace does not match the expected form "
+					+ "(does not end with '" + defaultSuffix + "'): '"
+					+ defaultNamespace + "'");
 		}
 
 		return Collections.singleton(defaultNamespace);