diff --git a/app/controllers/pools_controller.rb b/app/controllers/pools_controller.rb
index 3b43ed819..d02b6f1aa 100644
--- a/app/controllers/pools_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/pools_controller.rb
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class PoolsController < ApplicationController
 
   def create
     @pool = Pool.create(params[:pool])
-    flash[:notice] = "Pool created"
+    flash[:notice] = @pool.valid? ? "Pool created" : @pool.errors.full_messages.join("; ")
     respond_with(@pool)
   end
 
diff --git a/app/models/pool.rb b/app/models/pool.rb
index 42a84c5b2..47d201552 100644
--- a/app/models/pool.rb
+++ b/app/models/pool.rb
@@ -3,11 +3,10 @@ require 'ostruct'
 class Pool < ApplicationRecord
   class RevertError < Exception ; end
 
-  validates_uniqueness_of :name, :case_sensitive => false
-  validates_format_of :name, :with => /\A[^,]+\Z/, :message => "cannot have commas"
+  validates_uniqueness_of :name, :case_sensitive => false, :if => :name_changed?
+  validate :validate_name, :if => :name_changed?
   validates_inclusion_of :category, :in => %w(series collection)
   validate :updater_can_change_category
-  validate :name_does_not_conflict_with_metatags
   validate :updater_can_remove_posts
   belongs_to :creator, :class_name => "User"
   belongs_to :updater, :class_name => "User"
@@ -15,7 +14,6 @@ class Pool < ApplicationRecord
   before_validation :normalize_name
   before_validation :initialize_is_active, :on => :create
   before_validation :initialize_creator, :on => :create
-  before_validation :strip_name
   after_save :update_category_pseudo_tags_for_posts_async
   after_save :create_version
   after_create :synchronize!
@@ -119,7 +117,7 @@ class Pool < ApplicationRecord
   end
 
   def self.normalize_name(name)
-    name.gsub(/\s+/, "_")
+    name.gsub(/[_[:space:]]+/, "_").gsub(/\A_|_\z/, "")
   end
 
   def self.normalize_name_for_search(name)
@@ -138,7 +136,7 @@ class Pool < ApplicationRecord
     if name =~ /^\d+$/
       where("id = ?", name.to_i).first
     elsif name
-      where("lower(name) = ?", normalize_name(name).mb_chars.downcase).first
+      where("lower(name) = ?", normalize_name_for_search(name)).first
     else
       nil
     end
@@ -356,10 +354,6 @@ class Pool < ApplicationRecord
     super + [:creator_name]
   end
 
-  def strip_name
-    self.name = name.to_s.strip
-  end
-
   def update_category_pseudo_tags_for_posts_async
     if category_changed?
       delay(:queue => "default").update_category_pseudo_tags_for_posts
@@ -387,12 +381,14 @@ class Pool < ApplicationRecord
     end
   end
 
-  def name_does_not_conflict_with_metatags
-    if %w(any none series collection).include?(name.downcase.tr(" ", "_"))
-      errors[:base] << "Pools cannot have the following names: any, none, series, collection"
-      false
-    else
-      true
+  def validate_name
+    case name
+    when /\A(any|none|series|collection)\z/i
+      errors[:name] << "cannot be any of the following names: any, none, series, collection"
+    when /,/
+      errors[:name] << "cannot contain commas"
+    when ""
+      errors[:name] << "cannot be blank"
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/test/unit/pool_test.rb b/test/unit/pool_test.rb
index 35651a5ba..09abb1623 100644
--- a/test/unit/pool_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/pool_test.rb
@@ -249,7 +249,10 @@ class PoolTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     end
 
     should "normalize its name" do
-      @pool.update_attributes(:name => "A B")
+      @pool.update(:name => "  A  B  ")
+      assert_equal("A_B", @pool.name)
+
+      @pool.update(:name => "__A__B__")
       assert_equal("A_B", @pool.name)
     end
 
@@ -257,6 +260,16 @@ class PoolTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
       @pool.update_attributes(:post_ids => " 1  2 ")
       assert_equal("1 2", @pool.post_ids)
     end
+
+    context "when validating names" do
+      should_not allow_value("foo,bar").for(:name)
+      should_not allow_value("___").for(:name)
+      should_not allow_value("   ").for(:name)
+
+      %w[any none series collection].each do |type|
+        should_not allow_value(type).for(:name)
+      end
+    end
   end
 
   context "An existing pool" do