diff --git a/app/models/artist.rb b/app/models/artist.rb
index e35b9cfff..97aab0095 100644
--- a/app/models/artist.rb
+++ b/app/models/artist.rb
@@ -2,19 +2,17 @@ class Artist < ApplicationRecord
   extend Memoist
   class RevertError < Exception ; end
 
-  attribute :url_string, :string, default: nil
+  attr_accessor :url_string_was
+
   before_validation :normalize_name
   after_save :create_version
   after_save :categorize_tag
   after_save :update_wiki
-  after_save :save_urls
-  validates_associated :urls
   validates :name, tag_name: true, uniqueness: true
   validate :validate_wiki, :on => :create
-  after_validation :merge_validation_errors
   belongs_to_creator
   has_many :members, :class_name => "Artist", :foreign_key => "group_name", :primary_key => "name"
-  has_many :urls, :dependent => :destroy, :class_name => "ArtistUrl"
+  has_many :urls, :dependent => :destroy, :class_name => "ArtistUrl", :autosave => true
   has_many :versions, -> {order("artist_versions.id ASC")}, :class_name => "ArtistVersion"
   has_one :wiki_page, :foreign_key => "title", :primary_key => "name"
   has_one :tag_alias, :foreign_key => "antecedent_name", :primary_key => "name"
@@ -175,18 +173,24 @@ class Artist < ApplicationRecord
     end
 
     def url_array
-      urls.map(&:url)
+      urls.map(&:to_s)
     end
 
-    def save_urls
-      if url_string && saved_change_to_url_string?
-        Artist.transaction do
-          self.urls.clear
-          self.urls = url_string.scan(/[^[:space:]]+/).uniq.map do |url|
-            self.urls.find_or_create_by(url: url)
-          end
-        end
-      end
+    def url_string
+      url_array.sort.join("\n")
+    end
+
+    def url_string=(string)
+      self.url_string_was = url_string
+
+      self.urls = string.to_s.scan(/[^[:space:]]+/).map do |url|
+        is_active, url = ArtistUrl.parse_prefix(url)
+        self.urls.find_or_initialize_by(url: url, is_active: is_active)
+      end.uniq(&:url)
+    end
+
+    def url_string_changed?
+      url_string_was != url_string
     end
 
     def map_domain(x)
@@ -253,7 +257,7 @@ class Artist < ApplicationRecord
 
   module VersionMethods
     def create_version(force=false)
-      if saved_change_to_name? || saved_change_to_url_string? || saved_change_to_is_active? || saved_change_to_is_banned? || saved_change_to_other_names? || saved_change_to_group_name? || saved_change_to_notes? || force
+      if saved_change_to_name? || url_string_changed? || saved_change_to_is_active? || saved_change_to_is_banned? || saved_change_to_other_names? || saved_change_to_group_name? || saved_change_to_notes? || force
         if merge_version?
           merge_version
         else
@@ -268,7 +272,7 @@ class Artist < ApplicationRecord
         :name => name,
         :updater_id => CurrentUser.id,
         :updater_ip_addr => CurrentUser.ip_addr,
-        :url_string => url_string || url_array.join("\n"),
+        :url_string => url_string,
         :is_active => is_active,
         :is_banned => is_banned,
         :other_names => other_names,
@@ -280,7 +284,7 @@ class Artist < ApplicationRecord
       prev = versions.last
       prev.update_attributes(
         :name => name,
-        :url_string => url_string || url_array.join("\n"),
+        :url_string => url_string,
         :is_active => is_active,
         :is_banned => is_banned,
         :other_names => other_names,
@@ -546,13 +550,6 @@ class Artist < ApplicationRecord
   extend SearchMethods
   include ApiMethods
 
-  def merge_validation_errors
-    errors[:urls].clear
-    urls.select(&:invalid?).each do |url|
-      errors[:url] << url.errors.full_messages.join("; ")
-    end
-  end
-
   def status
     if is_banned? && is_active?
       "Banned"
diff --git a/app/models/artist_url.rb b/app/models/artist_url.rb
index 14953b796..47e310f96 100644
--- a/app/models/artist_url.rb
+++ b/app/models/artist_url.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 class ArtistUrl < ApplicationRecord
-  before_validation :parse_prefix
   before_validation :initialize_normalized_url, on: :create
   before_validation :normalize
   validates :url, presence: true, uniqueness: { scope: :artist_id }
@@ -9,12 +8,11 @@ class ArtistUrl < ApplicationRecord
   scope :url_matches, ->(url) { url_attribute_matches(:url, url) }
   scope :normalized_url_matches, ->(url) { url_attribute_matches(:normalized_url, url) }
 
-  def self.strip_prefixes(url)
-    url.sub(/^[-]+/, "")
-  end
+  def self.parse_prefix(url)
+    prefix, url = url.match(/\A(-)?(.*)/)[1, 2]
+    is_active = prefix.nil?
 
-  def self.is_active?(url)
-    url !~ /^-/
+    [is_active, url]
   end
 
   def self.normalize(url)
@@ -88,14 +86,6 @@ class ArtistUrl < ApplicationRecord
     end
   end
 
-  def parse_prefix
-    case url
-    when /^-/
-      self.url = url[1..-1]
-      self.is_active = false
-    end
-  end
-
   def priority
     if normalized_url =~ /pixiv\.net\/member\.php/
       10
@@ -132,8 +122,8 @@ class ArtistUrl < ApplicationRecord
 
   def validate_url_format
     uri = Addressable::URI.parse(url)
-    errors[:url] << "#{uri} must begin with http:// or https://" if !uri.scheme.in?(%w[http https])
+    errors[:url] << "'#{uri}' must begin with http:// or https:// " if !uri.scheme.in?(%w[http https])
   rescue Addressable::URI::InvalidURIError => error
-    errors[:url] << "is malformed: #{error}"
+    errors[:url] << "'#{uri}' is malformed: #{error}"
   end
 end
diff --git a/test/unit/artist_test.rb b/test/unit/artist_test.rb
index 36c1b7313..307e919ed 100644
--- a/test/unit/artist_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/artist_test.rb
@@ -166,9 +166,19 @@ class ArtistTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     end
 
     should "not allow invalid urls" do
-      artist = FactoryBot.create(:artist, :url_string => "blah")
+      artist = FactoryBot.build(:artist, :url_string => "blah")
       assert_equal(false, artist.valid?)
-      assert_equal([" blah must begin with http:// or https://"], artist.errors[:url])
+      assert_equal(["'blah' must begin with http:// or https:// "], artist.errors["urls.url"])
+    end
+
+    should "allow fixing invalid urls" do
+      artist = FactoryBot.build(:artist)
+      artist.urls << FactoryBot.build(:artist_url, url: "www.example.com", normalized_url: "www.example.com")
+      artist.save(validate: false)
+
+      artist.update(url_string: "http://www.example.com")
+      assert_equal(true, artist.valid?)
+      assert_equal("http://www.example.com", artist.urls.map(&:to_s).join)
     end
 
     should "make sure old urls are deleted" do
diff --git a/test/unit/artist_url_test.rb b/test/unit/artist_url_test.rb
index 3403a8f39..75b8c963f 100644
--- a/test/unit/artist_url_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/artist_url_test.rb
@@ -17,10 +17,17 @@ class ArtistUrlTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     end
 
     should "allow urls to be marked as inactive" do
-      url = FactoryBot.create(:artist_url, :url => "-http://monet.com")
+      url = FactoryBot.create(:artist_url, url: "http://monet.com", is_active: false)
       assert_equal("http://monet.com", url.url)
       assert_equal("http://monet.com/", url.normalized_url)
-      refute(url.is_active?)
+      assert_equal("-http://monet.com", url.to_s)
+    end
+
+    should "disallow invalid urls" do
+      url = FactoryBot.build(:artist_url, url: "www.example.com")
+
+      assert_equal(false, url.valid?)
+      assert_match(/must begin with http/, url.errors.full_messages.join)
     end
 
     should "always add a trailing slash when normalized" do