def __protocolize(base_url):
        """Internal add-protocol-to-url helper"""
        if not base_url.startswith("http://") and not base_url.startswith("https://"):
            base_url = "https://" + base_url

        # Some API endpoints can't handle extra /'s in path requests
        base_url = base_url.rstrip("/")
        return base_url