diff --git a/app/controllers/stories_controller.rb b/app/controllers/stories_controller.rb
index 3cdfe4ec8..08d63a34a 100644
--- a/app/controllers/stories_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/stories_controller.rb
@@ -228,8 +228,8 @@ def submit_suggestions
     end
 
     story_user = @story.user
-    inappropriate_tags = params[:story][:tags_a].reject { |t| t.to_s.strip == "" }
-      .map { |t| Tag.find_by tag: t }
+    inappropriate_tags = Tag
+      .where(tag: params[:story][:tags_a].reject { |t| t.to_s.blank? })
       .reject { |t| t.can_be_applied_by?(story_user) }
     if inappropriate_tags.length > 0
       tag_error = ""
@@ -259,12 +259,11 @@ def submit_suggestions
         dsug = true
       end
 
-      sugtags = params[:story][:tags_a].reject { |t| t.to_s.strip == "" }
-        .sort
-        .reject { |t|
-        !Tag.find_by(tag: t).can_be_applied_by?(story_user)
-      }
-      if @story.tags_a.sort != sugtags
+      sugtags = Tag
+        .where(tag: params[:story][:tags_a].reject { |t| t.to_s.strip.blank? })
+        .reject { |t| !t.can_be_applied_by?(story_user) }
+        .map { |s| s.tag }
+      if @story.tags_a.sort != sugtags.sort
         @story.save_suggested_tags_a_for_user!(sugtags, @user)
         dsug = true
       end
diff --git a/app/models/comment.rb b/app/models/comment.rb
index 4e8809f1f..80942358b 100644
--- a/app/models/comment.rb
+++ b/app/models/comment.rb
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ def as_json(_options = {})
       {comment_plain: (is_gone? ? gone_text : :comment)},
       :url,
       :depth,
-      {commenting_user: :user}
+      {commenting_user: user.username}
     ]
 
     js = {}
@@ -265,34 +265,24 @@ def deliver_notifications
   end
 
   def deliver_mention_notifications(notified = [])
-    to_notify = plaintext_comment.scan(/\B[@~]([\w\-]+)/).flatten.uniq
-    (to_notify - notified).each do |mention|
-      if notified.include? mention
-        next
-      end
-
-      if (u = User.active.find_by(username: mention))
-        if u.id == user.id
-          next
-        end
-
-        if u.email_mentions?
-          begin
-            EmailReplyMailer.mention(self, u).deliver_now
-          rescue => e
-            Rails.logger.error "error e-mailing #{u.email}: #{e}"
-          end
+    to_notify = plaintext_comment.scan(/\B[@~]([\w\-]+)/).flatten.uniq - notified - [user.username]
+    User.active.where(username: to_notify).find_each do |u|
+      if u.email_mentions?
+        begin
+          EmailReplyMailer.mention(self, u).deliver_now
+        rescue => e
+          Rails.logger.error "error e-mailing #{u.email}: #{e}"
         end
+      end
 
-        if u.pushover_mentions?
-          u.pushover!(
-            title: "#{Rails.application.name} mention by " \
-              "#{user.username} on #{story.title}",
-            message: plaintext_comment,
-            url: url,
-            url_title: "Reply to #{user.username}"
-          )
-        end
+      if u.pushover_mentions?
+        u.pushover!(
+          title: "#{Rails.application.name} mention by " \
+            "#{user.username} on #{story.title}",
+          message: plaintext_comment,
+          url: url,
+          url_title: "Reply to #{user.username}"
+        )
       end
     end
   end
@@ -563,7 +553,7 @@ def url
   def vote_summary_for_user(u)
     r_counts = {}
     r_users = {}
-    votes.includes(:user).each do |v|
+    votes.includes(:user).find_each do |v|
       r_counts[v.reason.to_s] ||= 0
       r_counts[v.reason.to_s] += v.vote
 
diff --git a/app/models/replying_comment.rb b/app/models/replying_comment.rb
index 2a5e53642..2b7e772a5 100644
--- a/app/models/replying_comment.rb
+++ b/app/models/replying_comment.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ class ReplyingComment < ApplicationRecord
   scope :for_user, ->(user_id) {
     where(user_id: user_id)
       .order(comment_created_at: :desc)
-      .preload(comment: [:story, :user])
+      .preload(comment: [:hat, {story: :user}, :user])
   }
   scope :unread_replies_for, ->(user_id) { for_user(user_id).where(is_unread: true) }
   scope :comment_replies_for,
diff --git a/app/models/search.rb b/app/models/search.rb
index edc64de76..478822081 100644
--- a/app/models/search.rb
+++ b/app/models/search.rb
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ def perform_comment_search!
   end
 
   def perform_story_search!
-    query = Story.base(@user).for_presentation
+    query = Story.base(@searcher).for_presentation
 
     terms = []
     n_domains = 0
diff --git a/app/models/story.rb b/app/models/story.rb
index a7cebf7b5..9b7a3db76 100644
--- a/app/models/story.rb
+++ b/app/models/story.rb
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ class Story < ApplicationRecord
     autosave: true,
     dependent: :destroy
   has_many :suggested_taggings, dependent: :destroy
+  has_many :suggested_tags, source: :story, through: :suggested_taggings, dependent: :destroy
   has_many :suggested_titles, dependent: :destroy
   has_many :suggested_tagging_times,
     -> { group(:tag_id).select("count(*) as times, tag_id").order("times desc") },
@@ -38,9 +39,9 @@ class Story < ApplicationRecord
   has_many :savings, class_name: "SavedStory", inverse_of: :story, dependent: :destroy
   has_one :story_text, foreign_key: :id, dependent: :destroy, inverse_of: :story
 
-  scope :base, ->(user) { includes(:tags).not_deleted(user).unmerged.mod_preload?(user) }
+  scope :base, ->(user) { includes(:story_text, :user).not_deleted(user).unmerged.mod_preload?(user) }
   scope :for_presentation, -> {
-    includes(:domain, :user, taggings: :tag)
+    includes(:domain, :user, :tags, taggings: :tag)
   }
   scope :mod_preload?, ->(user) {
     user.try(:is_moderator?) ? preload(:suggested_taggings, :suggested_titles) : all
@@ -310,7 +311,7 @@ def as_json(options = {})
       {description: :markeddown_description},
       {description_plain: :description},
       :comments_url,
-      {submitter_user: :user},
+      {submitter_user: user.username},
       :user_is_author,
       {tags: tags.map(&:tag).sort}
     ]
@@ -403,8 +404,8 @@ def check_tags
     u = editor || user
 
     if u&.is_new? &&
-        (unpermitted = taggings.filter { |t| !t.tag.permit_by_new_users? }).any?
-      tags = unpermitted.map { |t| t.tag.tag }.to_sentence
+        (unpermitted = Tag.where(id: taggings.map(&:tag_id), permit_by_new_users: false)).any?
+      tags = unpermitted.map(&:tag).to_sentence
       errors.add :base, <<-EXPLANATION
         New users can't submit stories with the tag(s) #{tags}
         because they're for meta discussion or prone to off-topic stories.
@@ -666,7 +667,10 @@ def tagging_changes
   end
 
   def tags_a
-    @_tags_a ||= taggings.reject(&:marked_for_destruction?).map { |t| t.tag.tag }
+    @_tags_a ||= taggings
+      .includes(:tag)
+      .reject(&:marked_for_destruction?)
+      .map { |t| t.tag.tag }
   end
 
   def tags_a=(new_tag_names_a)
@@ -676,45 +680,23 @@ def tags_a=(new_tag_names_a)
       end
     end
 
-    new_tag_names_a.uniq.each do |tag_name|
-      if tag_name.to_s != "" && !tags.exists?(tag: tag_name)
-        if (t = Tag.active.find_by(tag: tag_name))
-          # we can't lookup whether the user is allowed to use this tag yet
-          # because we aren't assured to have a user_id by now; we'll do it in
-          # the validation with check_tags
-          taggings.build(tag_id: t.id)
-        end
-      end
+    new_tags = Tag.where(tag: new_tag_names_a.uniq.compact_blank - tags.pluck(:tag))
+    new_tags.each do |t|
+      # we can't lookup whether the user is allowed to use this tag yet
+      # because we aren't assured to have a user_id by now; we'll do it in
+      # the validation with check_tags
+      taggings.build(tag_id: t.id)
     end
   end
 
   def save_suggested_tags_a_for_user!(new_tag_names_a, user)
-    st = suggested_taggings.where(user_id: user.id)
-
-    st.each do |tagging|
-      if !new_tag_names_a.include?(tagging.tag.tag)
-        tagging.destroy!
-      end
-    end
+    suggested_taggings.where(user_id: user.id).destroy_all
 
-    st.reload
-
-    new_tag_names_a.each do |tag_name|
-      # XXX: AR bug? st.exists?(:tag => tag_name) does not work
-      if tag_name.to_s != "" && !st.map { |x| x.tag.tag }.include?(tag_name)
-        if (t = Tag.active.find_by(tag: tag_name)) &&
-            t.can_be_applied_by?(user)
-          tg = suggested_taggings.build
-          tg.user_id = user.id
-          tg.tag_id = t.id
-          tg.save!
-
-          st.reload
-        else
-          next
-        end
-      end
-    end
+    new_tags = Tag
+      .active
+      .where(tag: new_tag_names_a.uniq.compact_blank)
+      .map { |t| {user: user, tag: t} }
+    suggested_taggings.create!(new_tags)
 
     # if enough users voted on the same set of replacement tags, do it
     tag_votes = {}
diff --git a/extras/markdowner.rb b/extras/markdowner.rb
index 8cb7daf41..221b3fc2b 100644
--- a/extras/markdowner.rb
+++ b/extras/markdowner.rb
@@ -51,6 +51,11 @@ def self.walk_text_nodes(node, &block)
   end
 
   def self.postprocess_text_node(node)
+    # Allowing 1+n in username linkification in comments/bios because this works inorder on the
+    # parse tree rather than running once over the text. Proper fix: loop to find usernames, do one
+    # lookup, then loop again to manipulate the nodes for usernames that exist.
+    Prosopite.pause
+
     while node
       return unless node.string_content =~ /\B(@#{User::VALID_USERNAME})/o
       before, user, after = $`, $1, $'
@@ -81,6 +86,7 @@ def self.postprocess_text_node(node)
         node = nil
       end
     end
+    Prosopite.resume
   end
 
   def self.convert_images_to_links(node)