diff --git a/r2/r2/controllers/api.py b/r2/r2/controllers/api.py
index 1e3e557b9..17c79c375 100644
--- a/r2/r2/controllers/api.py
+++ b/r2/r2/controllers/api.py
@@ -947,17 +947,12 @@ class ApiController(RedditController):
               VRatelimit(rate_user = True,
                          rate_ip = True,
                          prefix = 'create_reddit_'),
+              sr = VByName('sr'),
               name = VSubredditName("name"),
               title = VSubredditTitle("title"),
               domain = VCnameDomain("domain"),
               description = VSubredditDesc("description"),
-              firsttext = nop("firsttext"),
-              header = nop("headerfile"),
               lang = VLang("lang"),
-              stylesheet = nop("stylesheet"),
-              static_path = nop("staticdir"),
-              ad_file = nop("ad_file"),
-              sr = VByName('sr'),
               over_18 = VBoolean('over_18'),
               show_media = VBoolean('show_media'),
               type = VOneOf('type', ('public', 'private', 'restricted'))
@@ -965,10 +960,8 @@ class ApiController(RedditController):
     def POST_site_admin(self, res, name ='', sr = None, **kw):
         redir = False
         kw = dict((k, v) for k, v in kw.iteritems()
-                  if v is not None
-                  and k in ('name', 'title', 'domain', 'description', 'firsttext',
-                            'static_path', 'ad_file', 'over_18', 'show_media',
-                            'type', 'header', 'lang', 'stylesheet'))
+                  if k in ('name', 'title', 'domain', 'description', 'over_18',
+                           'show_media', 'type', 'lang',))
 
         #if a user is banned, return rate-limit errors
         if c.user._spam:
@@ -978,7 +971,6 @@ class ApiController(RedditController):
         domain = kw['domain']
         cname_sr = domain and Subreddit._by_domain(domain)
         if cname_sr and (not sr or sr != cname_sr):
-                kw['domain'] = None
                 c.errors.add(errors.USED_CNAME)
 
         if not sr and res._chk_error(errors.RATELIMIT):
@@ -998,7 +990,13 @@ class ApiController(RedditController):
         elif res._chk_error(errors.DESC_TOO_LONG):
             res._focus('description')
 
-        if not sr and not res.error:
+        res._update('status', innerHTML = '')
+
+        if res.error:
+            pass
+
+        #creating a new reddit
+        elif not sr:
             #sending kw is ok because it was sanitized above
             sr = Subreddit._new(name = name, **kw)
             Subreddit.subscribe_defaults(c.user)
@@ -1013,7 +1011,8 @@ class ApiController(RedditController):
                                      rate_ip = True,
                                      prefix = "create_reddit_")
 
-        if not res.error:
+        #editting an existing reddit
+        elif sr.is_moderator(c.user) or c.user_is_admin:
             #assume sr existed, or was just built
             clear_memo('subreddit._by_domain', 
                        Subreddit, _force_unicode(sr.domain))
diff --git a/r2/r2/controllers/errors.py b/r2/r2/controllers/errors.py
index 3064ee7ae..f360afef4 100644
--- a/r2/r2/controllers/errors.py
+++ b/r2/r2/controllers/errors.py
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ error_list = dict((
         ('BANNED_IP', "IP banned"),
         ('BANNED_DOMAIN', "Domain banned"),
         ('BAD_CNAME', "that domain isn't going to work"),
-        ('USED_CNAME', "that cname is already in use"),
+        ('USED_CNAME', "that domain is already in use"),
         ('INVALID_OPTION', _('that option is not valid')),
         ('DESC_TOO_LONG', _('description is too long')),
         ('CHEATER', 'what do you think you\'re doing there?'),
diff --git a/r2/r2/controllers/validator/validator.py b/r2/r2/controllers/validator/validator.py
index 978778c2a..adc0594de 100644
--- a/r2/r2/controllers/validator/validator.py
+++ b/r2/r2/controllers/validator/validator.py
@@ -709,18 +709,19 @@ class ValidEmails(Validator):
 
 
 class VCnameDomain(Validator):
-    domain_re  = re.compile(r'.+\..+')
+    domain_re  = re.compile(r'^([\w]+\.)+[\w]+$')
 
     def run(self, domain):
         if (domain
             and (not self.domain_re.match(domain)
-                 or domain.endswith('.reddit.com'))):
+                 or domain.endswith('.reddit.com')
+                 or len(domain) > 300)):
             c.errors.add(errors.BAD_CNAME)
-        try:
-            return str(domain) or ''
-        except UnicodeEncodeError:
-            c.errors.add(errors.BAD_CNAME)
-            return ""
+        elif domain:
+            try:
+                return str(domain).lower()
+            except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                c.errors.add(errors.BAD_CNAME)
 
 # NOTE: make sure *never* to have res check these are present
 # otherwise, the response could contain reference to these errors...!
diff --git a/r2/r2/models/subreddit.py b/r2/r2/models/subreddit.py
index 20daf4146..4c9e5cf52 100644
--- a/r2/r2/models/subreddit.py
+++ b/r2/r2/models/subreddit.py
@@ -40,10 +40,9 @@ class Subreddit(Thing, Printable):
                      stylesheet_rtl = None,
                      stylesheet_contents = '',
                      stylesheet_hash     = '0',
-                     description = None,
                      firsttext = strings.firsttext,
-                     header = os.path.join(g.static_path,
-                                           'base.reddit.com.header.png'),
+                     header = None,
+                     description = '',
                      images = {},
                      ad_file = os.path.join(g.static_path, 'ad_default.html'),
                      reported = 0,
@@ -109,7 +108,7 @@ class Subreddit(Thing, Printable):
 
     @classmethod
     def _by_domain(cls, domain):
-        sr_id = cls._by_domain_cache(_force_unicode(domain))
+        sr_id = cls._by_domain_cache(_force_unicode(domain).lower())
         if sr_id:
             return cls._byID(sr_id, True)
         else:
diff --git a/r2/r2/templates/createsubreddit.html b/r2/r2/templates/createsubreddit.html
index 292fbef54..38b20ea4f 100644
--- a/r2/r2/templates/createsubreddit.html
+++ b/r2/r2/templates/createsubreddit.html
@@ -131,79 +131,6 @@ function update_title() {
         ${error_field("DESC_TOO_LONG", "span")}
       </td>
     </tr>
-
-    %if c.user_is_admin:
-    <tr>
-      <th>
-        <label for="firsttext">${_("first text")}</label>
-      </th>
-      <td class="prefright">
-        <textarea name="firsttext" rows="5" cols="30" class="text">
-        %if thing.site:
-        ${thing.site.firsttext or ''}
-        %endif
-        </textarea>
-      </td>
-      <td class="note" id="note_firsttext">
-      </td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <th>
-        <label for="staticdir">${_("static directory")}</label>
-      </th>
-      <td class="prefright">
-        %if thing.site:
-        <input type="text" name="staticdir" class="text" 
-               value="${thing.site.static_path or ''}"/>
-        %else:
-        <input type="text" name="staticdir" class="text" />
-        %endif
-      </td>
-      <td class="note" id="note_staticdirfile"></td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <th>
-        <label for="headerfile">${_("headerfile")}</label>
-      </th>
-      <td class="prefright">
-        %if thing.site:
-        <input type="text" name="headerfile" class="text" 
-               value="${thing.site.header or ''}"/>
-        %else:
-        <input type="text" name="headerfile" class="text" />
-        %endif
-      </td>
-      <td class="note" id="note_headerfile"></td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <th>
-        <label for="stylesheet">${_("style sheet")}</label>
-      </th>
-      <td class="prefright">
-        %if thing.site:
-        <input type="text" name="stylesheet" class="text" 
-               value="${thing.site.stylesheet or ''}"/>
-        %else:
-        <input type="text" name="stylesheet" class="text" />
-        %endif
-      </td>
-      <td class="note" id="note_stylesheetfile"></td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <th>
-        <label for="adfile">${_("ad file")}</label>
-      </th>
-      <td class="prefright">
-        %if thing.site:
-        <input type="text" name="ad_file" class="text" 
-               value="${thing.site.ad_file or ''}"/>
-        %else:
-        <input type="text" name="ad_file" class="text" />
-        %endif
-      </td>
-      <td class="note" id="note_ad_file"></td>
-    </tr>
-    %endif
     <tr>
       <th>
         <label for="lang">${_("language")}</label>