diff --git a/DiscordBot/Modules/TipModule.cs b/DiscordBot/Modules/TipModule.cs
index 0423737e..85d94075 100644
--- a/DiscordBot/Modules/TipModule.cs
+++ b/DiscordBot/Modules/TipModule.cs
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ public async Task Tip(string keywords)
 			return;
 		}
 
+		foreach (var tip in tips)
+  			tip.Requests++;
+
 		var isAnyTextTips = tips.Any(tip => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(tip.Content));
 		var builder = new EmbedBuilder();
 		if (isAnyTextTips)
@@ -70,6 +73,7 @@ public async Task Tip(string keywords)
 		var ids = string.Join(" ", tips.Select(t => t.Id.ToString()).ToArray());
 		await ReplyAsync($"-# Tip ID {ids}");
 		await Context.Message.DeleteAsync();
+  		await TipService.CommitTipDatabase();
 	}
 	
 	[Command("AddTip")]
@@ -109,7 +113,8 @@ public async Task ReplaceTip(ulong tipId, string content = "")
  
 		await TipService.ReplaceTip(Context.Message, tip, content);
 	}
-	
+
+#if false
 	[Command("DumpTips")]
 	[Summary("For debugging, view the tip index.")]
 	[RequireModerator]
@@ -138,6 +143,18 @@ await Context.Channel.SendMessageAsync(
 				await Task.Delay(chunkTime);
 		}
 	}
+#endif
+
+	[Command("ReloadTips")]
+	[Summary("Reload the database of tips.")]
+	[RequireModerator]
+	public async Task ReloadTipDatabase()
+	{
+ 		// rare usage, but in case someone with a shell decides
+   		// to edit the json for debugging/expansion reasons...
+ 		await TipService.ReloadTipDatabase();
+   		await ReplyAsync("Tip index reloaded.");
+	}
 	
 	[Command("ListTips")]
 	[Summary("List available tips by their keywords.")]
diff --git a/DiscordBot/Services/Tips/Components/Tip.cs b/DiscordBot/Services/Tips/Components/Tip.cs
index f7962ad4..bfaab3f4 100644
--- a/DiscordBot/Services/Tips/Components/Tip.cs
+++ b/DiscordBot/Services/Tips/Components/Tip.cs
@@ -8,4 +8,5 @@ public class Tip: IEntity<ulong>
 	public string Content { get; set; }
 	public List<string> Keywords { get; set; }
 	public List<string> ImagePaths { get; set; }
+	public int Requests { get; set; }
 }
diff --git a/DiscordBot/Services/Tips/TipService.cs b/DiscordBot/Services/Tips/TipService.cs
index b94490c0..24cd0404 100644
--- a/DiscordBot/Services/Tips/TipService.cs
+++ b/DiscordBot/Services/Tips/TipService.cs
@@ -76,16 +76,8 @@ private void Initialize()
                 _loggingService.LogAction($"[{ServiceName}] Tip directory contains {new DirectoryInfo(_imageDirectory).EnumerateFiles("*.*", SearchOption.AllDirectories).Count()} files.",
                     ExtendedLogSeverity.Info);
             }
-            
-            if (File.Exists(jsonPath))
-            {
-                var json =  File.ReadAllText(jsonPath);
-                _tips = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ConcurrentDictionary<string, List<Tip>>>(json);
-                _loggingService.LogAction(
-                    $"[{ServiceName}] Tip index has {_tips.Count} keywords.",
-                    ExtendedLogSeverity.Info);
-                //NOTE: elements of type Tip are not de-duplicated after loading
-            }
+
+            var blocking = ReloadTipDatabase();
         }
 
         _isRunning = true;
@@ -271,11 +263,64 @@ public async Task ReplaceTip(IUserMessage message, Tip tip, string content)
         // REVIEW: causes two CommitTipDatabase calls
     }
 
-    private async Task CommitTipDatabase()
+    public async Task ReloadTipDatabase()
+    {
+        var jsonPath = GetTipPath(DatabaseName);;
+        if (File.Exists(jsonPath))
+        {
+            var json =  File.ReadAllText(jsonPath);
+            _tips = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ConcurrentDictionary<string, List<Tip>>>(json);
+            _loggingService.LogAction(
+                $"[{ServiceName}] Tip index has {_tips.Count} keywords.",
+                ExtendedLogSeverity.Info);
+        }
+
+        //NOTE: elements of type Tip are not de-duplicated after loading in earlier versions
+        // probably some Linq clever way of de-duplicating
+        bool touched = false;
+        var tips = new Dictionary<ulong, Tip>();
+        foreach (string keyword in _tips.Keys)
+        {
+            var list = _tips[keyword];
+            for (int i = 0; i < list.Count; i++)
+            {
+                ulong id = list[i].Id;
+                if (tips.TryGetValue(id, out var tip))
+                {
+                    if (!Object.ReferenceEquals(list[i], tip))
+                    {
+                        list[i] = tip;
+                        touched = true;
+                    }
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    tips[id] = list[i];
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (touched)
+        {
+            _loggingService.LogAction(
+                $"[{ServiceName}] Tip index was de-duplicated.",
+                ExtendedLogSeverity.Info);
+            await CommitTipDatabase();
+        }
+    }
+
+    public async Task CommitTipDatabase()
     {
         // In same folder, we save json files
         var jsonPath = GetTipPath(DatabaseName);
-        await File.WriteAllTextAsync(jsonPath, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(_tips));
+        var settings = new JsonSerializerSettings
+        {
+            PreserveReferencesHandling = PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects
+        };
+        await File.WriteAllTextAsync(jsonPath,
+            JsonConvert.SerializeObject(_tips,
+                Formatting.Indented,
+                settings));
     }
 
     public string DumpTipDatabase()