diff --git a/app/templates/account/profile.jade b/app/templates/account/profile.jade
index 37ff7ef85..a178413ce 100644
--- a/app/templates/account/profile.jade
+++ b/app/templates/account/profile.jade
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ block content
         |Please 
         a.auth-button login 
         | to view this profile.
-  else
+  else if user.loaded
     if allowedToEditJobProfile
       .profile-control-bar
         if editing
@@ -486,8 +486,9 @@ block content
           span(data-i18n="account_profile.profile_for_prefix") Profile for 
           span= user.get('name') || "Anonymous Wizard"
           span(data-i18n="account_profile.profile_for_suffix")  
-  
-        img.profile-photo(src=user.getPhotoURL(256))
+
+        if user.loaded
+          img.profile-photo(src=user.getPhotoURL(256))
   
         p To see a private user profile, you may need to log in.
   
diff --git a/app/views/kinds/UserView.coffee b/app/views/kinds/UserView.coffee
index 90f1bed11..d73e9cc7f 100644
--- a/app/views/kinds/UserView.coffee
+++ b/app/views/kinds/UserView.coffee
@@ -9,15 +9,14 @@ module.exports = class UserView extends RootView
 
   constructor: (@userID, options) ->
     super options
-    @userID ?= me.id
     @listenTo @, 'userNotFound', @ifUserNotFound
     @fetchUser @userID
 
-  fetchUser: (id) ->
+  fetchUser:  ->
     if @isMe()
       @user = me
       @onLoaded()
-    @user = new User _id: id
+    @user = new User _id: @userID
     @supermodel.loadModel @user, 'user'
 
   getRenderData: ->
@@ -29,8 +28,12 @@ module.exports = class UserView extends RootView
   isMe: -> @userID is me.id
 
   onLoaded: ->
+    @onUserLoaded @user if @user.loaded and not @userLoaded
     super()
 
+  onUserLoaded: ->
+    @userLoaded = true
+
   ifUserNotFound: ->
     console.warn 'user not found'
     @render()
diff --git a/app/views/user/JobProfileView.coffee b/app/views/user/JobProfileView.coffee
index 831b30d6a..836b75676 100644
--- a/app/views/user/JobProfileView.coffee
+++ b/app/views/user/JobProfileView.coffee
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ module.exports = class JobProfileView extends UserView
     'change #admin-contact': 'onAdminContactChanged'
     'click .session-link': 'onSessionLinkPressed'
 
-  constructor: (userID, options) ->
+  constructor: (options, userID) ->
     @onJobProfileNotesChanged = _.debounce @onJobProfileNotesChanged, 1000
     @onRemarkChanged = _.debounce @onRemarkChanged, 1000
     @authorizedWithLinkedIn = IN?.User?.isAuthorized()
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ module.exports = class JobProfileView extends UserView
     window.contractCallback = =>
       @authorizedWithLinkedIn = IN?.User?.isAuthorized()
       @render()
-    super options, userID
+    super userID, options
 
   onLoaded: ->
     @finishInit() unless @destroyed
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ module.exports = class JobProfileView extends UserView
       console.log 'Saved UserRemark', @remark, 'with response', response
 
   updateProgress: (highlightNext) ->
-    return unless @user?.loaded
+    return unless @user?.loaded and @sessions?.loaded
     completed = 0
     totalWeight = 0
     next = null
diff --git a/server/lib/utils.coffee b/server/lib/utils.coffee
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d0fd9d09e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/lib/utils.coffee
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+
+module.exports =
+  isID: (id) -> _.isString(id) and id.length is 24 and id.match(/[a-f0-9]/gi)?.length is 24
diff --git a/server/plugins/plugins.coffee b/server/plugins/plugins.coffee
index 238bcce3d..918055042 100644
--- a/server/plugins/plugins.coffee
+++ b/server/plugins/plugins.coffee
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 mongoose = require('mongoose')
 textSearch = require('mongoose-text-search')
 log = require 'winston'
+utils = require '../lib/utils'
 
 module.exports.MigrationPlugin = (schema, migrations) ->
   # Property name migrations made EZ
@@ -31,9 +32,13 @@ module.exports.NamedPlugin = (schema) ->
   schema.add({name: String, slug: String})
   schema.index({'slug': 1}, {unique: true, sparse: true, name: 'slug index'})
 
-  schema.statics.getBySlug = (slug, done) ->
+  schema.statics.findBySlug = (slug, done) ->
     @findOne {slug: slug}, done
 
+  schema.statics.findBySlugOrId = (slugOrID, done) ->
+    return @findById slugOrID, done if utils.isID slugOrID
+    @findOne {slug: slugOrID}, done
+
   schema.pre('save', (next) ->
     if schema.uses_coco_versions
       v = @get('version')
diff --git a/server/users/user_handler.coffee b/server/users/user_handler.coffee
index 917a43c0c..c87073cd8 100644
--- a/server/users/user_handler.coffee
+++ b/server/users/user_handler.coffee
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ UserHandler = class UserHandler extends Handler
           @sendSuccess(res, {result: 'success'})
 
   avatar: (req, res, id) ->
-    @modelClass.findById(id).exec (err, document) =>
+    @modelClass.findBySlugOrId(id).exec (err, document) =>
       return @sendDatabaseError(res, err) if err
       return @sendNotFoundError(res) unless document
       photoURL = document?.get('photoURL')
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ UserHandler = class UserHandler extends Handler
 
   IDify: (idOrSlug, done) ->
     return done null, idOrSlug if Handler.isID idOrSlug
-    User.getBySlug idOrSlug, (err, user) -> done err, user?.get '_id'
+    User.findBySlug idOrSlug, (err, user) -> done err, user?.get '_id'
 
   getLevelSessions: (req, res, userIDOrSlug) ->
     @IDify userIDOrSlug, (err, userID) =>