diff --git a/core/imageboard.pack.php b/core/imageboard.pack.php
index 869e7de6..c9a2ce4a 100644
--- a/core/imageboard.pack.php
+++ b/core/imageboard.pack.php
@@ -476,11 +476,11 @@ class Image {
 			$this->delete_tags_from_image();
 			// insert each new tags
 			foreach($tags as $tag) {
-				if(preg_match("/^source=(.*)$/i", $tag, $matches)) {
+				if(preg_match("/^source[=|:](.*)$/i", $tag, $matches)) {
 					$this->set_source($matches[1]);
 					continue;
 				}
-				if(preg_match("/^pool=(.*)$/i", $tag, $matches)) {
+				if(preg_match("/^pool[=|:](.*)$/i", $tag, $matches)) {
 					if(class_exists("Pools")) {
 						$pls = new Pools();
 						$pls->add_post_from_tag($matches[1], $this->id);
diff --git a/ext/danbooru_api/main.php b/ext/danbooru_api/main.php
index f5d8773e..2ba1b82d 100644
--- a/ext/danbooru_api/main.php
+++ b/ext/danbooru_api/main.php
@@ -54,14 +54,6 @@ class DanbooruApi extends Extension {
 		}
 	}
 
-	public function onSearchTermParse(SearchTermParseEvent $event) {
-		$matches = array();
-		if(preg_match("/^md5:([0-9a-fA-F]*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
-			$hash = strtolower($matches[1]);
-			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.hash = '$hash'"));	// :-O
-		}
-	}
-
 	// Danbooru API
 	private function api_danbooru(PageRequestEvent $event)
 	{
diff --git a/ext/favorites/main.php b/ext/favorites/main.php
index aee35d6a..6517377e 100644
--- a/ext/favorites/main.php
+++ b/ext/favorites/main.php
@@ -117,12 +117,12 @@ class Favorites extends Extension {
 
 	public function onSearchTermParse(SearchTermParseEvent $event) {
 		$matches = array();
-		if(preg_match("/favorites(<|>|<=|>=|=)(\d+)/", $event->term, $matches)) {
-			$cmp = $matches[1];
+		if(preg_match("/^favorites([:]?<|[:]?>|[:]?<=|[:]?>=|[:|=])(\d+)$/", $event->term, $matches)) {
+			$cmp = ltrim($matches[1], ":") ?: "=";
 			$favorites = $matches[2];
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.id IN (SELECT id FROM images WHERE favorites $cmp $favorites)"));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/favorited_by=(.*)/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		else if(preg_match("/^favorited_by[=|:](.*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			global $database;
 			$user = User::by_name($matches[1]);
 			if(!is_null($user)) {
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ class Favorites extends Extension {
 
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.id IN (SELECT image_id FROM user_favorites WHERE user_id = $user_id)"));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/favorited_by_userno=([0-9]+)/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		else if(preg_match("/^favorited_by_userno[=|:](\d+)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			$user_id = int_escape($matches[1]);
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.id IN (SELECT image_id FROM user_favorites WHERE user_id = $user_id)"));
 		}
diff --git a/ext/index/main.php b/ext/index/main.php
index f851bde7..4acc663c 100644
--- a/ext/index/main.php
+++ b/ext/index/main.php
@@ -38,36 +38,53 @@
  *        <li>id<20 -- search only the first few images
  *        <li>id>=500 -- search later images
  *      </ul>
- *    <li>user=Username, eg
+ *    <li>user=Username & poster=Username, eg
  *      <ul>
  *        <li>user=Shish -- find all of Shish's posts
+ *        <li>poster=Shish -- same as above
  *      </ul>
- *    <li>hash=md5sum, eg
+ *    <li>user_id=userID & poster_id=userID, eg
+ *      <ul>
+ *        <li>user_id=2 -- find all posts by user id 2
+ *        <li>poster_id=2 -- same as above
+ *      </ul>
+ *    <li>hash=md5sum & md5=md5sum, eg
  *      <ul>
  *        <li>hash=bf5b59173f16b6937a4021713dbfaa72 -- find the "Taiga want up!" image
+ *        <li>md5=bf5b59173f16b6937a4021713dbfaa72 -- same as above
  *      </ul>
- *    <li>filetype=type, eg
+ *    <li>filetype=type & ext=type, eg
  *      <ul>
  *        <li>filetype=png -- find all PNG images
+ *        <li>ext=png -- same as above
  *      </ul>
- *    <li>filename=blah, eg
+ *    <li>filename=blah & name=blah, eg
  *      <ul>
  *        <li>filename=kitten -- find all images with "kitten" in the original filename
+ *        <li>name=kitten -- same as above
  *      </ul>
  *    <li>posted (=, &lt;, &gt;, &lt;=, &gt;=) date, eg
  *      <ul>
  *        <li>posted&gt;=2009-12-25 posted&lt;=2010-01-01 -- find images posted between christmas and new year
  *      </ul>
+ *    <li>tags (=, &lt;, &gt;, &lt;=, &gt;=) count, eg
+ *      <ul>
+ *        <li>tags=1 -- search for images with only 1 tag
+ *        <li>tags>=10 -- search for images with 10 or more tags
+ *        <li>tags<25 -- search for images with less than 25 tags
+ *      </ul>
+ *    <li>source=url, eg
+ *      <ul>
+ *        <li>source=http://example.com -- find all images with "http://example.com" in the source
+ *      </ul>
  *  </ul>
  *  <p>Search items can be combined to search for images which match both,
  *  or you can stick "-" in front of an item to search for things that don't
  *  match it.
+ *  <p>Metatags can be followed by ":" rather than "=" if you prefer.
+ *  <br />I.E: "posted:2014-01-01", "id:>=500" etc.
  *  <p>Some search methods provided by extensions:
  *  <ul>
- *    <li>Danbooru API
- *      <ul>
- *        <li>md5:[hash] -- same as "hash=", but the API calls it by a different name
- *      </ul>
  *    <li>Numeric Score
  *      <ul>
  *        <li>score (=, &lt;, &gt;, &lt;=, &gt;=) number -- seach by score
@@ -81,11 +98,14 @@
  *    <li>Favorites
  *      <ul>
  *        <li>favorites (=, &lt;, &gt;, &lt;=, &gt;=) number -- search for images favourited a certain number of times
- *        <li>favourited_by=Username -- search for a user's choices
+ *        <li>favourited_by=Username -- search for a user's choices by username
+ *        <li>favorited_by_userno=UserID -- search for a user's choice by userID
  *      </ul>
  *    <li>Notes
  *      <ul>
  *        <li>notes (=, &lt;, &gt;, &lt;=, &gt;=) number -- search by the number of notes an image has
+ *        <li>notes_by=Username -- search for a notes created by username
+ *        <li>notes_by_userno=UserID -- search for a notes created by userID
  *      </ul>
  *  </ul>
  */
@@ -240,45 +260,45 @@ class Index extends Extension {
 	public function onSearchTermParse(SearchTermParseEvent $event) {
 		$matches = array();
 		// check for tags first as tag based searches are more common.
-		if(preg_match("/tags(<|>|<=|>=|=)(\d+)/", $event->term, $matches)) {
-			$cmp = $matches[1];
+		if(preg_match("/^tags([:]?<|[:]?>|[:]?<=|[:]?>=|[:|=])(\d+)$/", $event->term, $matches)) {
+			$cmp = ltrim($matches[1], ":") ?: "=";
 			$tags = $matches[2];
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet('images.id IN (SELECT DISTINCT image_id FROM image_tags GROUP BY image_id HAVING count(image_id) '.$cmp.' '.$tags.')'));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/^ratio(<|>|<=|>=|=)(\d+):(\d+)$/", $event->term, $matches)) {
-			$cmp = $matches[1];
+		else if(preg_match("/^ratio([:]?<|[:]?>|[:]?<=|[:]?>=|[:|=])(\d+):(\d+)$/", $event->term, $matches)) {
+			$cmp = preg_replace('/^:/', '=', $matches[1]);
 			$args = array("width{$this->stpen}"=>int_escape($matches[2]), "height{$this->stpen}"=>int_escape($matches[3]));
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("width / height $cmp :width{$this->stpen} / :height{$this->stpen}", $args));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/^(filesize|id)(<|>|<=|>=|=)(\d+[kmg]?b?)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		else if(preg_match("/^(filesize|id)([:]?<|[:]?>|[:]?<=|[:]?>=|[:|=])(\d+[kmg]?b?)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			$col = $matches[1];
-			$cmp = $matches[2];
+			$cmp = ltrim($matches[2], ":") ?: "=";
 			$val = parse_shorthand_int($matches[3]);
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.$col $cmp :val{$this->stpen}", array("val{$this->stpen}"=>$val)));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/^(hash|md5)=([0-9a-fA-F]*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		else if(preg_match("/^(hash|md5)[=|:]([0-9a-fA-F]*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			$hash = strtolower($matches[2]);
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet('images.hash = :hash', array("hash" => $hash)));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/^(filetype|ext)=([a-zA-Z0-9]*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		else if(preg_match("/^(filetype|ext)[=|:]([a-zA-Z0-9]*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			$ext = strtolower($matches[2]);
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet('images.ext = :ext', array("ext" => $ext)));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/^(filename|name)=([a-zA-Z0-9]*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		else if(preg_match("/^(filename|name)[=|:]([a-zA-Z0-9]*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			$filename = strtolower($matches[2]);
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.filename LIKE :filename{$this->stpen}", array("filename{$this->stpen}"=>"%$filename%")));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/^(source)=([a-zA-Z0-9]*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
-			$filename = strtolower($matches[2]);
-			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet('images.source LIKE :src', array("src"=>"%$filename%")));
+		else if(preg_match("/^(source)[=|:]([a-zA-Z0-9]*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+			$source = strtolower($matches[2]);
+			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet('images.source LIKE :src', array("src"=>"%$source%")));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/^posted(<|>|<=|>=|=)([0-9-]*)$/", $event->term, $matches)) {
-			$cmp = $matches[1];
+		else if(preg_match("/^posted([:]?<|[:]?>|[:]?<=|[:]?>=|[:|=])([0-9-]*)$/", $event->term, $matches)) {
+			$cmp = ltrim($matches[1], ":") ?: "=";
 			$val = $matches[2];
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.posted $cmp :posted{$this->stpen}", array("posted{$this->stpen}"=>$val)));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/^size(<|>|<=|>=|=)(\d+)x(\d+)$/", $event->term, $matches)) {
-			$cmp = $matches[1];
+		else if(preg_match("/^size([:]?<|[:]?>|[:]?<=|[:]?>=|[:|=])(\d+)x(\d+)$/", $event->term, $matches)) {
+			$cmp = ltrim($matches[1], ":") ?: "=";
 			$args = array("width{$this->stpen}"=>int_escape($matches[2]), "height{$this->stpen}"=>int_escape($matches[3]));
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("width $cmp :width{$this->stpen} AND height $cmp :height{$this->stpen}", $args));
 		}
diff --git a/ext/notes/main.php b/ext/notes/main.php
index 5bc09ef6..f29a22e9 100644
--- a/ext/notes/main.php
+++ b/ext/notes/main.php
@@ -210,16 +210,16 @@ class Notes extends Extension {
 	 */
 	public function onSearchTermParse(SearchTermParseEvent $event) {
 		$matches = array();
-		if(preg_match("/note=(.*)/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		if(preg_match("/^note[=|:](.*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			$notes = int_escape($matches[1]);
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.id IN (SELECT image_id FROM notes WHERE note = $notes)"));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/notes(<|>|<=|>=|=)(\d+)/", $event->term, $matches)) {
-			$cmp = $matches[1];
+		else if(preg_match("/^notes([:]?<|[:]?>|[:]?<=|[:]?>=|[:|=])(\d+)%/", $event->term, $matches)) {
+			$cmp = ltrim($matches[1], ":") ?: "=";
 			$notes = $matches[2];
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.id IN (SELECT id FROM images WHERE notes $cmp $notes)"));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/notes_by=(.*)/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		else if(preg_match("/^notes_by[=|:](.*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			global $database;
 			$user = User::by_name($matches[1]);
 			if(!is_null($user)) {
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ class Notes extends Extension {
 
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.id IN (SELECT image_id FROM notes WHERE user_id = $user_id)"));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/notes_by_userno=([0-9]+)/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		else if(preg_match("/^notes_by_userno[=|:](\d+)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			$user_id = int_escape($matches[1]);
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.id IN (SELECT image_id FROM notes WHERE user_id = $user_id)"));
 		}
diff --git a/ext/rating/main.php b/ext/rating/main.php
index be54cdb4..1b41b89f 100644
--- a/ext/rating/main.php
+++ b/ext/rating/main.php
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ class Ratings extends Extension {
 			$set = Ratings::privs_to_sql(Ratings::get_user_privs($user));
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("rating IN ($set)"));
 		}
-		if(preg_match("/^rating=(?:([sqeu]+)|(safe|questionable|explicit|unknown))$/D", strtolower($event->term), $matches)) {
+		if(preg_match("/^rating[=|:](?:([sqeu]+)|(safe|questionable|explicit|unknown))$/D", strtolower($event->term), $matches)) {
 			$ratings = $matches[1] ? $matches[1] : array($matches[2][0]);
 			$ratings = array_intersect(str_split($ratings), str_split(Ratings::get_user_privs($user)));
 			$set = "'" . join("', '", $ratings) . "'";
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ class Ratings extends Extension {
 
 	private function no_rating_query($context) {
 		foreach($context as $term) {
-			if(preg_match("/^rating=/", $term)) {
+			if(preg_match("/^rating[=|:]/", $term)) {
 				return false;
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/ext/user/main.php b/ext/user/main.php
index 5a4058ca..67755004 100644
--- a/ext/user/main.php
+++ b/ext/user/main.php
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ class UserPage extends Extension {
 		global $user;
 
 		$matches = array();
-		if(preg_match("/^(poster|user)=(.*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		if(preg_match("/^(poster|user)[=|:](.*)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			$duser = User::by_name($matches[2]);
 			if(!is_null($duser)) {
 				$user_id = $duser->id;
@@ -319,11 +319,11 @@ class UserPage extends Extension {
 			}
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.owner_id = $user_id"));
 		}
-		else if(preg_match("/^(poster|user)_id=([0-9]+)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		else if(preg_match("/^(poster|user)_id[=|:]([0-9]+)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			$user_id = int_escape($matches[2]);
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.owner_id = $user_id"));
 		}
-		else if($user->can("view_ip") && preg_match("/^(poster|user)_ip=([0-9\.]+)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
+		else if($user->can("view_ip") && preg_match("/^(poster|user)_ip[=|:]([0-9\.]+)$/i", $event->term, $matches)) {
 			$user_ip = $matches[2]; // FIXME: ip_escape?
 			$event->add_querylet(new Querylet("images.owner_ip = '$user_ip'"));
 		}