diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/common/user_styles.css.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/common/user_styles.css.scss
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..225eb8935
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/common/user_styles.css.scss
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+a.user-admin.with-style {
+  color: red;
+}
+
+a.user-moderator.with-style {
+  color: orange;
+}
+
+a.user-janitor.with-style {
+  color: green;
+}
+
+a.user-contributor.with-style {
+  color: purple;
+}
+
+a.user-builder.with-style {
+  color: #6633FF;
+}
+
+a.user-platinum.with-style {
+  color: gray;
+}
+
+a.user-gold.with-style {
+  color: #0000FF;
+}
+
+a.user-member.with-style {
+  color: auto;
+}
diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index ba2de6c46..9f9f31901 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -71,11 +71,8 @@ module ApplicationHelper
   end
 
   def link_to_user(user)
-    link_to(user.pretty_name, user_path(user), :class => user.level_class)
-  end
-
-  def link_to_user_unless(condition, user)
-    link_to_unless(condition, user.pretty_name, user_path(user), :class => user.level_class)
+    user_class = CurrentUser.user.style_usernames? ? "#{user.level_class} with-style" : user.level_class
+    link_to(user.pretty_name, user_path(user), :class => user_class)
   end
 
   def mod_link_to_user(user, positive_or_negative)
diff --git a/app/logical/anonymous_user.rb b/app/logical/anonymous_user.rb
index 057337633..a4d49219b 100644
--- a/app/logical/anonymous_user.rb
+++ b/app/logical/anonymous_user.rb
@@ -185,6 +185,10 @@ class AnonymousUser
     false
   end
 
+  def style_usernames?
+    false
+  end
+
   %w(member banned privileged builder platinum contributor janitor moderator admin).each do |name|
     define_method("is_#{name}?") do
       false
diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index b06e9dac0..e66277190 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ class User < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   attr_accessor :password, :old_password
-  attr_accessible :enable_privacy_mode, :enable_post_navigation, :new_post_navigation_layout, :password, :old_password, :password_confirmation, :password_hash, :email, :last_logged_in_at, :last_forum_read_at, :has_mail, :receive_email_notifications, :comment_threshold, :always_resize_images, :favorite_tags, :blacklisted_tags, :name, :ip_addr, :time_zone, :default_image_size, :enable_sequential_post_navigation, :per_page, :hide_deleted_posts, :as => [:moderator, :janitor, :contributor, :privileged, :member, :anonymous, :default, :builder, :admin]
+  attr_accessible :enable_privacy_mode, :enable_post_navigation, :new_post_navigation_layout, :password, :old_password, :password_confirmation, :password_hash, :email, :last_logged_in_at, :last_forum_read_at, :has_mail, :receive_email_notifications, :comment_threshold, :always_resize_images, :favorite_tags, :blacklisted_tags, :name, :ip_addr, :time_zone, :default_image_size, :enable_sequential_post_navigation, :per_page, :hide_deleted_posts, :style_usernames, :as => [:moderator, :janitor, :contributor, :privileged, :member, :anonymous, :default, :builder, :admin]
   attr_accessible :level, :as => :admin
   validates_length_of :name, :within => 2..100, :on => :create
   validates_format_of :name, :with => /\A[^\s:]+\Z/, :on => :create, :message => "cannot have whitespace or colons"
@@ -506,7 +506,7 @@ class User < ActiveRecord::Base
 
   module ApiMethods
     def hidden_attributes
-      super + [:password_hash, :bcrypt_password_hash, :email, :email_verification_key, :time_zone, :created_at, :updated_at, :receive_email_notifications, :last_logged_in_at, :last_forum_read_at, :has_mail, :default_image_size, :comment_threshold, :always_resize_images, :favorite_tags, :blacklisted_tags, :base_upload_limit, :recent_tags, :enable_privacy_mode, :enable_post_navigation, :new_post_navigation_layout, :enable_sequential_post_navigation, :hide_deleted_posts, :per_page]
+      super + [:password_hash, :bcrypt_password_hash, :email, :email_verification_key, :time_zone, :created_at, :updated_at, :receive_email_notifications, :last_logged_in_at, :last_forum_read_at, :has_mail, :default_image_size, :comment_threshold, :always_resize_images, :favorite_tags, :blacklisted_tags, :base_upload_limit, :recent_tags, :enable_privacy_mode, :enable_post_navigation, :new_post_navigation_layout, :enable_sequential_post_navigation, :hide_deleted_posts, :per_page, :style_usernames]
     end
 
     def serializable_hash(options = {})
diff --git a/app/views/posts/partials/show/_information.html.erb b/app/views/posts/partials/show/_information.html.erb
index bcc4f8298..55ddac99b 100644
--- a/app/views/posts/partials/show/_information.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/posts/partials/show/_information.html.erb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <ul>
   <li>ID: <%= post.id %></li>
-  <li>Uploader: <%= link_to_user_unless(post.uploader.nil?, post.uploader) + "&nbsp;".html_safe + link_to("&raquo;".html_safe, posts_path(:tags => "user:#{post.uploader.name}")) %></li>
+  <li>Uploader: <%= link_to_user(post.uploader) + "&nbsp;".html_safe + link_to("&raquo;".html_safe, posts_path(:tags => "user:#{post.uploader.name}")) %></li>
   <li>Date: <%= link_to time_ago_in_words_tagged(post.created_at), posts_path(:tags => "date:#{post.created_at.to_date}") %></li>
   <% if post.approver %>
     <li>Approver: <%= link_to_user(post.approver) %></li>
diff --git a/app/views/users/edit.html.erb b/app/views/users/edit.html.erb
index 2b9c5005b..5621f6db5 100644
--- a/app/views/users/edit.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/users/edit.html.erb
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
           <%= f.input :per_page, :label => "Posts per page", :as => :select, :collection => (1..100), :include_blank => false %>
         <% end %>
         
+        <%= f.input :style_usernames, :as => :select, :label => "Colored usernames", :hint => "Color each user's name depending on their rank", :include_blank => false, :collection => [["Yes", "true"], ["No", "false"]] %>
+        
         <%= f.input :blacklisted_tags, :hint => "Put any tag combinations you never want to see here. Each combination should go on a separate line.", :input_html => {:size => "40x5"} %>
         <div class="input text optional field_with_hint">
           <label class="text optional" for="user_favorite_tags">Frequent tags</label>
diff --git a/db/migrate/20130417221643_add_style_usernames_to_users.rb b/db/migrate/20130417221643_add_style_usernames_to_users.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b0d54699c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20130417221643_add_style_usernames_to_users.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+class AddStyleUsernamesToUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    execute "set statement_timeout = 0"
+    add_column :users, :style_usernames, :boolean, :null => false, :default => false
+  end
+end