diff --git a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/pm.php b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/pm.php
index 1eaeb1a250..8d31c87817 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/pm.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/pm.php
@@ -112,9 +112,7 @@ class phpbb_notification_type_pm extends phpbb_notification_type_base
 	*/
 	public function get_title()
 	{
-		$user_data = $this->user_loader->get_user($this->get_data('from_user_id'));
-
-		$username = get_username_string('no_profile', $user_data['user_id'], $user_data['username'], $user_data['user_colour']);
+		$username = $this->user_loader->get_username($this->get_data('from_user_id'), 'no_profile');
 
 		return $this->user->lang('NOTIFICATION_PM', $username, $this->get_data('message_subject'));
 	}
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/post.php b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/post.php
index 7e06779982..0646282c94 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/post.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/post.php
@@ -181,9 +181,7 @@ class phpbb_notification_type_post extends phpbb_notification_type_base
 			}
 			else
 			{
-				$user_data = $this->user_loader->get_user($responder['poster_id']);
-
-				$usernames[] = get_username_string('no_profile', $user_data['user_id'], $user_data['username'], $user_data['user_colour']);
+				$usernames[] = $this->user_loader->get_username($responder['poster_id'], 'no_profile');
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -217,9 +215,7 @@ class phpbb_notification_type_post extends phpbb_notification_type_base
 		}
 		else
 		{
-			$user_data = $this->user_loader->get_user($this->get_data('poster_id'));
-
-			$username = get_username_string('username', $user_data['user_id'], $user_data['username'], $user_data['user_colour']);
+			$username = $this->user_loader->get_username($this->get_data('poster_id'), 'no_profile');
 		}
 
 		return array(
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_pm.php b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_pm.php
index 73e22dc83b..877e8209e3 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_pm.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_pm.php
@@ -160,9 +160,7 @@ class phpbb_notification_type_report_pm extends phpbb_notification_type_pm
 	{
 		$this->user->add_lang('mcp');
 
-		$user_data = $this->user_loader->get_user($this->get_data('reporter_id'));
-
-		$username = get_username_string('no_profile', $user_data['user_id'], $user_data['username'], $user_data['user_colour']);
+		$username = $this->user_loader->get_username($this->get_data('reporter_id'), 'no_profile');
 
 		if ($this->get_data('report_text'))
 		{
@@ -186,7 +184,7 @@ class phpbb_notification_type_report_pm extends phpbb_notification_type_pm
 
 		return $this->user->lang(
 			$this->language_key,
-				$username,
+			$username,
 			censor_text($this->get_data('message_subject')),
 			$this->get_data('reason_description')
 		);
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_pm_closed.php b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_pm_closed.php
index 51e5204304..2d60ae21d4 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_pm_closed.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_pm_closed.php
@@ -106,9 +106,7 @@ class phpbb_notification_type_report_pm_closed extends phpbb_notification_type_p
 	*/
 	public function get_title()
 	{
-		$user_data = $this->user_loader->get_user($this->get_data('closer_id'));
-
-		$username = get_username_string('no_profile', $user_data['user_id'], $user_data['username'], $user_data['user_colour']);
+		$username = $this->user_loader->get_username($this->get_data('closer_id'), 'no_profile');
 
 		return $this->user->lang(
 			$this->language_key,
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_post.php b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_post.php
index 2508644b0b..0334fdb109 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_post.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_post.php
@@ -127,9 +127,7 @@ class phpbb_notification_type_report_post extends phpbb_notification_type_post_i
 	{
 		$this->user->add_lang('mcp');
 
-		$user_data = $this->user_loader->get_user($this->get_data('reporter_id'));
-
-		$username = get_username_string('no_profile', $user_data['user_id'], $user_data['username'], $user_data['user_colour']);
+		$username = $this->user_loader->get_username($this->get_data('reporter_id'), 'no_profile');
 
 		if ($this->get_data('report_text'))
 		{
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_post_closed.php b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_post_closed.php
index a7016a8f3d..3282ba7d8c 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_post_closed.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/report_post_closed.php
@@ -106,9 +106,7 @@ class phpbb_notification_type_report_post_closed extends phpbb_notification_type
 	*/
 	public function get_title()
 	{
-		$user_data = $this->user_loader->get_user($this->get_data('closer_id'));
-
-		$username = get_username_string('no_profile', $user_data['user_id'], $user_data['username'], $user_data['user_colour']);
+		$username = $this->user_loader->get_username($this->get_data('closer_id'), 'no_profile');
 
 		return $this->user->lang(
 			$this->language_key,
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/topic.php b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/topic.php
index 6e9347d4a8..614d644501 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/notification/type/topic.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/notification/type/topic.php
@@ -142,9 +142,7 @@ class phpbb_notification_type_topic extends phpbb_notification_type_base
 		}
 		else
 		{
-			$user_data = $this->user_loader->get_user($this->get_data('poster_id'));
-
-			$username = get_username_string('no_profile', $user_data['user_id'], $user_data['username'], $user_data['user_colour']);
+			$username = $this->user_loader->get_username($this->get_data('poster_id'), 'no_profile');
 		}
 
 		return $this->user->lang(
@@ -178,9 +176,7 @@ class phpbb_notification_type_topic extends phpbb_notification_type_base
 		}
 		else
 		{
-			$user_data = $this->user_loader->get_user($this->get_data('poster_id'));
-
-			$username = get_username_string('username', $user_data['user_id'], $user_data['username'], $user_data['user_colour']);
+			$username = $this->user_loader->get_username($this->get_data('poster_id'), 'no_profile');
 		}
 
 		return array(
diff --git a/phpBB/includes/user_loader.php b/phpBB/includes/user_loader.php
index 914770e335..db12854a60 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/user_loader.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/user_loader.php
@@ -91,27 +91,100 @@ class phpbb_user_loader
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	* Load a user by username
+	*
+	* Stores the full data in the user cache so they do not need to be loaded again
+	* Returns the user id so you may use get_user() from the returned value
+	*
+	* @param string $username Raw username to load (will be cleaned)
+	* @return int User ID for the username
+	*/
+	public function load_user_by_username($username)
+	{
+		$sql = 'SELECT *
+			FROM ' . $this->users_table . "
+			WHERE username_clean = '" . $this->db->sql_escape(utf8_clean_string($username)) . "'";
+		$result = $this->db->sql_query($sql);
+		$row = $this->db->sql_fetchrow($result);
+		$this->db->sql_freeresult($result);
+
+		if ($row)
+		{
+			$this->users[$row['user_id']] = $row;
+
+			return $row['user_id'];
+		}
+
+		return ANONYMOUS;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	* Get a user row from our users cache
 	*
-	* @param int $user_id
+	* @param int $user_id User ID of the user you want to retreive
+	* @param bool $query Should we query the database if this user has not yet been loaded?
+	* 						Typically this should be left as false and you should make sure
+	* 						you load users ahead of time with load_users()
 	* @return array|bool Row from the database of the user or Anonymous if the user wasn't loaded/does not exist
 	* 						or bool False if the anonymous user was not loaded
 	*/
-	public function get_user($user_id)
+	public function get_user($user_id, $query = false)
 	{
-		return (isset($this->users[$user_id])) ? $this->users[$user_id] : (isset($this->users[ANONYMOUS]) ? $this->users[ANONYMOUS] : false);
+		if (isset($this->users[$user_id]))
+		{
+			return $this->users[$user_id];
+		}
+		// Query them if we must (if ANONYMOUS is sent as the user_id and we have not loaded Anonymous yet, we must load Anonymous as a last resort)
+		else if ($query || $user_id == ANONYMOUS)
+		{
+			$this->load_users(array($user_id));
+
+			return $this->get_user($user_id);
+		}
+
+		return $this->get_user(ANONYMOUS);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	* Get username
+	*
+	* @param int $user_id User ID of the user you want to retreive the username for
+	* @param string $mode The mode to load (same as get_username_string). One of the following:
+	* 			profile (for getting an url to the profile)
+	* 			username (for obtaining the username)
+	* 			colour (for obtaining the user colour)
+	* 			full (for obtaining a html string representing a coloured link to the users profile)
+	* 			no_profile (the same as full but forcing no profile link)
+	* @param string $guest_username Optional parameter to specify the guest username. It will be used in favor of the GUEST language variable then.
+	* @param string $custom_profile_url Optional parameter to specify a profile url. The user id get appended to this url as &u={user_id}
+	* @param bool $query Should we query the database if this user has not yet been loaded?
+	* 						Typically this should be left as false and you should make sure
+	* 						you load users ahead of time with load_users()
+	* @return string
+	*/
+	public function get_username($user_id, $mode, $guest_username = false, $custom_profile_url = false, $query = false)
+	{
+		if (!($user = $this->get_user($user_id, $query)))
+		{
+			return '';
+		}
+
+		return get_username_string($mode, $user['user_id'], $user['username'], $user['user_colour'], $guest_username, $custom_profile_url);
 	}
 
 	/**
 	* Get avatar
 	*
-	* @param int $user_id
+	* @param int $user_id User ID of the user you want to retreive the avatar for
+	* @param bool $query Should we query the database if this user has not yet been loaded?
+	* 						Typically this should be left as false and you should make sure
+	* 						you load users ahead of time with load_users()
 	* @return string
 	*/
-	public function get_avatar($user_id)
+	public function get_avatar($user_id, $query = false)
 	{
-		if (!($user = $this->get_user($user_id)))
+		if (!($user = $this->get_user($user_id, $query)))
 		{
 			return '';
 		}
@@ -123,4 +196,36 @@ class phpbb_user_loader
 
 		return get_user_avatar($user['user_avatar'], $user['user_avatar_type'], $user['user_avatar_width'], $user['user_avatar_height']);
 	}
+
+	/**
+	* Get rank
+	*
+	* @param int $user_id User ID of the user you want to retreive the rank for
+	* @param bool $query Should we query the database if this user has not yet been loaded?
+	* 						Typically this should be left as false and you should make sure
+	* 						you load users ahead of time with load_users()
+	* @return array Array with keys 'rank_title', 'rank_img', and 'rank_img_src'
+	*/
+	public function get_rank($user_id, $query = false)
+	{
+		if (!($user = $this->get_user($user_id, $query)))
+		{
+			return '';
+		}
+
+		if (!function_exists('get_user_rank'))
+		{
+			include($this->phpbb_root_path . 'includes/functions_display.' . $this->php_ext);
+		}
+
+		$rank = array(
+			'rank_title',
+			'rank_img',
+			'rank_img_src',
+		);
+
+		get_user_rank($user['user_rank'], (($user['user_id'] == ANONYMOUS) ? false : $user['user_posts']), $rank['rank_title'], $rank['rank_img'], $rank['rank_img_src']);
+
+		return $rank;
+	}
 }
diff --git a/tests/user/user_loader.php b/tests/user/user_loader.php
index 145bfc9549..0beb804729 100644
--- a/tests/user/user_loader.php
+++ b/tests/user/user_loader.php
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 *
 */
 
+include_once(__DIR__ . '/../../phpBB/includes/utf/utf_tools.php');
+
 class phpbb_user_lang_test extends phpbb_database_test_case
 {
 	public function getDataSet()
@@ -18,7 +20,7 @@ class phpbb_user_lang_test extends phpbb_database_test_case
 	{
 		$db = $this->new_dbal();
 
-		$user_loader = new phpbb_user_loader($db, __DIR__ . '../../phpBB', 'php', 'phpbb_users');
+		$user_loader = new phpbb_user_loader($db, __DIR__ . '/../../phpBB/', 'php', 'phpbb_users');
 
 		$user_loader->load_users(array(2));
 
@@ -35,13 +37,12 @@ class phpbb_user_lang_test extends phpbb_database_test_case
 		$this->assertEquals(1, $user['user_id']);
 		$this->assertEquals('Guest', $user['username']);
 
-		$user_loader->load_users(array(3));
+		$user = $user_loader->get_user(3, true);
+		$this->assertEquals(3, $user['user_id']);
+		$this->assertEquals('Test', $user['username']);
 
-		$user = $user_loader->get_user(2);
-		$this->assertEquals(2, $user['user_id']);
-		$this->assertEquals('Admin', $user['username']);
-
-		$user = $user_loader->get_user(3);
+		$user_id = $user_loader->load_user_by_username('Test');
+		$user = $user_loader->get_user($user_id);
 		$this->assertEquals(3, $user['user_id']);
 		$this->assertEquals('Test', $user['username']);
 	}