diff --git a/app/models/topic.rb b/app/models/topic.rb
index d5bc6f426aa..fdf606336cb 100644
--- a/app/models/topic.rb
+++ b/app/models/topic.rb
@@ -36,15 +36,24 @@ class Topic < ActiveRecord::Base
   rate_limit :limit_topics_per_day
   rate_limit :limit_private_messages_per_day
 
-  validate :title_quality
-  validates_presence_of :title
-  validate :title, -> { SiteSetting.topic_title_length.include? :length }
+  before_validation :sanitize_title
+
+  validates :title, :presence => true,
+                    :length => {  :in => SiteSetting.topic_title_length,
+                                  :allow_blank => true },
+                    :quality_title => { :unless => :private_message? },
+                    :unique_among  => { :unless => Proc.new { |t| (SiteSetting.allow_duplicate_topic_titles? || t.private_message?) },
+                                        :message => :has_already_been_used,
+                                        :allow_blank => true,
+                                        :case_sensitive => false,
+                                        :collection => Proc.new{ Topic.listable_topics } }
+
+  after_validation do
+    self.title = TextCleaner.clean_title(TextSentinel.title_sentinel(title).text) if errors[:title].empty?
+  end
 
   serialize :meta_data, ActiveRecord::Coders::Hstore
 
-  before_validation :sanitize_title
-  validate :unique_title
-
   belongs_to :category
   has_many :posts
   has_many :topic_allowed_users
@@ -142,22 +151,6 @@ class Topic < ActiveRecord::Base
     RateLimiter.new(user, "pms-per-day:#{Date.today.to_s}", SiteSetting.max_private_messages_per_day, 1.day.to_i)
   end
 
-  # Validate unique titles if a site setting is set
-  def unique_title
-    return if SiteSetting.allow_duplicate_topic_titles?
-
-    # Let presence validation catch it if it's blank
-    return if title.blank?
-
-    # Private messages can be called whatever they want
-    return if private_message?
-
-    finder = Topic.listable_topics.where("lower(title) = ?", title.downcase)
-    finder = finder.where("id != ?", self.id) if self.id.present?
-
-    errors.add(:title, I18n.t(:has_already_been_used)) if finder.exists?
-  end
-
   def fancy_title
     return title unless SiteSetting.title_fancy_entities?
 
@@ -168,19 +161,6 @@ class Topic < ActiveRecord::Base
     Redcarpet::Render::SmartyPants.render(title)
   end
 
-  def title_quality
-    # We don't care about quality on private messages
-    return if private_message?
-
-    sentinel = TextSentinel.title_sentinel(title)
-    if sentinel.valid?
-      # clean up the title
-      self.title = TextCleaner.clean_title(sentinel.text)
-    else
-      errors.add(:title, I18n.t(:is_invalid))
-    end
-  end
-
   def sanitize_title
     if self.title.present?
       self.title = sanitize(title, tags: [], attributes: [])
diff --git a/config/application.rb b/config/application.rb
index bcc6f311ad4..a647f4f9147 100644
--- a/config/application.rb
+++ b/config/application.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ module Discourse
     end
 
     # Custom directories with classes and modules you want to be autoloadable.
-    config.autoload_paths += %W(#{config.root}/app/serializers)
+    config.autoload_paths += Dir["#{config.root}/app/serializers"]
+    config.autoload_paths += Dir["#{config.root}/lib/validators/"]
 
     # Only load the plugins named here, in the order given (default is alphabetical).
     # :all can be used as a placeholder for all plugins not explicitly named.
diff --git a/config/locales/server.en.yml b/config/locales/server.en.yml
index dc053849c69..7c34f9e4e79 100644
--- a/config/locales/server.en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/server.en.yml
@@ -100,6 +100,9 @@ en:
       post:
         raw: "Body"
     errors:
+      messages:
+        is_invalid: "is invalid; try to be a little more descriptive"
+        has_already_been_used: "has already been used"
       models:
         topic:
           attributes:
diff --git a/lib/text_sentinel.rb b/lib/text_sentinel.rb
index 4a04edb9a49..439781b71d5 100644
--- a/lib/text_sentinel.rb
+++ b/lib/text_sentinel.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ class TextSentinel
 
   def initialize(text, opts=nil)
     @opts = opts || {}
-    @text = text.encode('UTF-8', invalid: :replace, undef: :replace, replace: '') if text.present?
+    @text = text.to_s.encode('UTF-8', invalid: :replace, undef: :replace, replace: '')
   end
 
   def self.non_symbols_regexp
@@ -26,28 +26,26 @@ class TextSentinel
 
   # Entropy is a number of how many unique characters the string needs.
   def entropy
-    return 0 if @text.blank?
-    @entropy ||= @text.strip.each_char.to_a.uniq.size
+    @entropy ||= @text.to_s.strip.split('').uniq.size
   end
 
   def valid?
     # Blank strings are not valid
-    return false if @text.blank? || @text.strip.blank?
+    @text.present? &&
 
-    # Entropy check if required
-    return false if @opts[:min_entropy].present? && (entropy < @opts[:min_entropy])
+    # Minimum entropy if entropy check required
+    (@opts[:min_entropy].blank? || (entropy >= @opts[:min_entropy])) &&
 
-    # We don't have a comprehensive list of symbols, but this will eliminate some noise
-    non_symbols = @text.gsub(TextSentinel.non_symbols_regexp, '').size
-    return false if non_symbols == 0
+    # At least some non-symbol characters
+    # (We don't have a comprehensive list of symbols, but this will eliminate some noise)
+    (@text.gsub(TextSentinel.non_symbols_regexp, '').size > 0) &&
 
-    # Don't allow super long strings without spaces
-    return false if @opts[:max_word_length] && @text =~ /\w{#{@opts[:max_word_length]},}(\s|$)/
+    # Don't allow super long words if there is a word length maximum
+    (@opts[:max_word_length].blank? || @text.split(/\W/).map(&:size).max <= @opts[:max_word_length] ) &&
 
     # We don't allow all upper case content in english
-    return false if (@text =~ /[A-Z]+/) && (@text == @text.upcase)
+    not((@text =~ /[A-Z]+/) && (@text == @text.upcase)) &&
 
-    # It is valid
     true
   end
 
diff --git a/lib/validators/quality_title_validator.rb b/lib/validators/quality_title_validator.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..598e78782f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/validators/quality_title_validator.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+require 'text_sentinel'
+require 'text_cleaner'
+
+class QualityTitleValidator < ActiveModel::EachValidator
+  def validate_each(record, attribute, value)
+    sentinel = TextSentinel.title_sentinel(value)
+    record.errors.add(attribute, :is_invalid) unless sentinel.valid?
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/validators/unique_among_validator.rb b/lib/validators/unique_among_validator.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3aada1bd0c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/validators/unique_among_validator.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+class UniqueAmongValidator < ActiveRecord::Validations::UniquenessValidator
+  def validate_each(record, attribute, value)
+    old_errors = record.errors[attribute].size
+
+    # look for any duplicates at all
+    super
+
+    new_errors = record.errors[attribute].size - old_errors
+
+    # do nothing further unless there were some duplicates.
+    unless new_errors == 0
+      # now look only in the collection we care about.
+      dupes = options[:collection].call.where("lower(#{attribute}) = ?", value.downcase)
+      dupes = dupes.where("id != ?", record.id) if record.persisted?
+
+      # pop off the error, if it was a false positive
+      record.errors[attribute].pop(new_errors) unless dupes.exists?
+    end
+  end
+
+end
diff --git a/spec/components/validators/quality_title_validator_spec.rb b/spec/components/validators/quality_title_validator_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0eb22006caa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/components/validators/quality_title_validator_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+# encoding: UTF-8
+
+require 'spec_helper'
+require 'validators/quality_title_validator'
+require 'ostruct'
+
+module QualityTitleValidatorSpec
+  class Validatable < OpenStruct
+    include ActiveModel::Validations
+    validates :title, :quality_title => { :unless => :private_message? }
+  end
+end
+
+describe "A record validated with QualityTitleValidator" do
+  let(:valid_title){ "hello this is my cool topic! welcome: all;" }
+  let(:short_title){ valid_title.slice(0, SiteSetting.min_topic_title_length - 1) }
+  let(:long_title ){ valid_title.center(SiteSetting.max_topic_title_length + 1, 'x') }
+  let(:xxxxx_title){ valid_title.gsub(/./,'x')}
+
+  subject(:topic){ QualityTitleValidatorSpec::Validatable.new }
+
+  before(:each) do
+    topic.stubs(:private_message? => false)
+  end
+
+  it "allows a regular title with a few ascii characters" do
+    topic.title = valid_title
+    topic.should be_valid
+  end
+
+  it "allows non ascii" do
+    topic.title = "Iñtërnâtiônàlizætiøn"
+    topic.should be_valid
+  end
+
+  it "allows anything in a private message" do
+    topic.stubs(:private_message? => true)
+    [short_title, long_title, xxxxx_title].each do |bad_title|
+      topic.title = bad_title
+      topic.should be_valid
+    end
+  end
+
+  it "strips a title when identifying length" do
+    topic.title = short_title.center(SiteSetting.min_topic_title_length + 1, ' ')
+    topic.should_not be_valid
+  end
+
+  it "doesn't allow a long title" do
+    topic.title = long_title
+    topic.should_not be_valid
+  end
+
+  it "doesn't allow a short title" do
+    topic.title = short_title
+    topic.should_not be_valid
+  end
+
+  it "doesn't allow a title of one repeated character" do
+    topic.title = xxxxx_title
+    topic.should_not be_valid
+  end
+
+  # describe "with a name" do
+  #   it "is not valid without a name" do
+  #     subject.stub(:name => nil)
+  #     subject.should_not be_valid
+  #     subject.should have(1).error_on(:name)
+  #     subject.errors[:name].first.should == "can't be blank"
+  #   end
+  # end
+end
+
diff --git a/spec/models/topic_spec.rb b/spec/models/topic_spec.rb
index c0075f8ca29..27e9e127a79 100644
--- a/spec/models/topic_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/topic_spec.rb
@@ -26,30 +26,6 @@ describe Topic do
 
   it_behaves_like "a versioned model"
 
-  context '.title_quality' do
-
-    it "strips a title when identifying length" do
-      Fabricate.build(:topic, title: (" " * SiteSetting.min_topic_title_length) + "x").should_not be_valid
-    end
-
-    it "doesn't allow a long title" do
-      Fabricate.build(:topic, title: "x" * (SiteSetting.max_topic_title_length + 1)).should_not be_valid
-    end
-
-    it "doesn't allow a short title" do
-      Fabricate.build(:topic, title: "x" * (SiteSetting.min_topic_title_length + 1)).should_not be_valid
-    end
-
-    it "allows a regular title with a few ascii characters" do
-      Fabricate.build(:topic, title: "hello this is my cool topic! welcome: all;").should be_valid
-    end
-
-    it "allows non ascii" do
-      Fabricate.build(:topic, title: "Iñtërnâtiônàlizætiøn").should be_valid
-    end
-
-  end
-
   context 'slug' do
 
     let(:title) { "hello world topic" }
@@ -102,7 +78,7 @@ describe Topic do
         SiteSetting.expects(:allow_duplicate_topic_titles?).returns(true)
       end
 
-      it "won't allow another topic to be created with the same name" do
+      it "will allow another topic to be created with the same name" do
         new_topic.should be_valid
       end
     end
@@ -112,10 +88,7 @@ describe Topic do
   context 'html in title' do
 
     def build_topic_with_title(title)
-      t = build(:topic, title: title)
-      t.sanitize_title
-      t.title_quality
-      t
+      build(:topic, title: title).tap{ |t| t.valid? }
     end
 
     let(:topic_bold) { build_topic_with_title("Topic with <b>bold</b> text in its title" ) }