diff --git a/clone-witcom.sh b/clone-witcom.sh
index f2dfae9..4d79cf4 100755
--- a/clone-witcom.sh
+++ b/clone-witcom.sh
@@ -41,9 +41,20 @@ gitclone()
 	return $result
 }
 
+gitclonefail()
+{
+	src=$1
+	path=$2
+	gitclonefail $src $path
+
+	# make the directory on machines that don't have permissions so these
+	# repositories are just ignored in the future
+	mkdir -p $path
+
+}
+
 gitupdate()
 {
-	# log_action_end_msg "$1" ${2:+"$2"}
 	src=$1
 	path=$2
 	#echo path=$path
@@ -76,38 +87,36 @@ witgitclone()
 	src='http://ping.wit.com/'$base
 	gitclone $src $path
 
-	mkdir -p $path
-
 	# log_action_end_msg "$1" ${2:+"$2"}
 	exit 0
 }
 
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/resumes.git'              'corp/resumes'
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/org-docs.git'             'corp/org-docs'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/resumes.git'              'corp/resumes'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/org-docs.git'             'corp/org-docs'
 
-witgitclone 'git/cloud/witcoredns'                            'cloud/witcoredns'
-witgitclone 'git/cloud/jcarrbox'                              'cloud/jcarrbox'
-witgitclone 'git/cloud/bind9dnssec'                           'cloud/bind9dnssec'
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/debcore.git'              'cloud/debcore'
+witgitclone  'git/cloud/witcoredns'                               'cloud/witcoredns'
+witgitclone  'git/cloud/jcarrbox'                                 'cloud/jcarrbox'
+witgitclone  'git/cloud/bind9dnssec'                              'cloud/bind9dnssec'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/debcore.git'              'cloud/debcore'
 
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/AndroidApp.git'           'phone/AndroidApp'
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/webrtc-example.git'       'phone/webrtc-example'
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/group-chat.git'           'phone/group-chat'
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/http-https-tunnel.git'    'phone/http-https-tunnel'
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/webproxy.git'             'phone/webproxy'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/AndroidApp.git'           'phone/AndroidApp'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/webrtc-example.git'       'phone/webrtc-example'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/group-chat.git'           'phone/group-chat'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/http-https-tunnel.git'    'phone/http-https-tunnel'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/webproxy.git'             'phone/webproxy'
 
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/VirtexEval.git'           'crypto/VirtexEval'
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/liveblock.git'            'crypto/bitcoin-liveblock'
-witgitclone 'git/crypto/realtime-crypto-data'                 'crypto/realtime-crypto-data'
-witgitclone 'git/crypto/mining-binaries'                      'crypto/mining-binaries'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/VirtexEval.git'           'crypto/VirtexEval'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/liveblock.git'            'crypto/bitcoin-liveblock'
+witgitclone  'git/crypto/realtime-crypto-data'                    'crypto/realtime-crypto-data'
+witgitclone  'git/crypto/mining-binaries'                         'crypto/mining-binaries'
 
-gitclone 'https://github.com/ethereum-mining/ethminer.git'    'crypto/mining-code/ethminer'
-gitclone 'https://github.com/ethereum/cpp-ethereum'           'crypto/mining-code/cpp-ethereum'
-gitclone 'https://github.com/vthoang/cgminer.git'             'crypto/mining-code/cgminer-vthoang'
-gitclone 'https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer.git'            'crypto/mining-code/cgminer-ckolivas'
-gitclone 'https://github.com/zcash/zcash.git'                 'crypto/mining-code/zcash'
+gitclone     'https://github.com/ethereum-mining/ethminer.git'    'crypto/mining-code/ethminer'
+gitclone     'https://github.com/ethereum/cpp-ethereum'           'crypto/mining-code/cpp-ethereum'
+gitclone     'https://github.com/vthoang/cgminer.git'             'crypto/mining-code/cgminer-vthoang'
+gitclone     'https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer.git'            'crypto/mining-code/cgminer-ckolivas'
+gitclone     'https://github.com/zcash/zcash.git'                 'crypto/mining-code/zcash'
 
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/www.wit.com.git'          'website/www.wit.com'
-gitclone 'git@github.com:witstartup/witcoin.git'              'website/witcoin'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/www.wit.com.git'          'website/www.wit.com'
+gitclonefail 'git@github.com:witstartup/witcoin.git'              'website/witcoin'
 
 exit 0