diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/topic_view.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/topic_view.js
index a4d2a405452..384c016221d 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/topic_view.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/views/topic_view.js
@@ -306,6 +306,11 @@ Discourse.TopicView = Discourse.View.extend(Discourse.Scrolling, {
   },
 
   finishedEdit: function() {
+
+    // TODO: This should be in a controller and use proper text fields
+
+    var topicView = this;
+
     if (this.get('editingTopic')) {
       var topic = this.get('topic');
       // retrieve the title from the text field
@@ -326,9 +331,17 @@ Discourse.TopicView = Discourse.View.extend(Discourse.Scrolling, {
           title: title,
           fancy_title: title
         });
+
+      }, function(error) {
+        topicView.set('editingTopic', true);
+        if (error && error.responseText) {
+          bootbox.alert($.parseJSON(error.responseText).errors[0]);
+        } else {
+          bootbox.alert(Em.String.i18n('generic_error'));
+        }
       });
       // close editing mode
-      this.set('editingTopic', false);
+      topicView.set('editingTopic', false);
     }
   },
 
diff --git a/app/controllers/topics_controller.rb b/app/controllers/topics_controller.rb
index 5f19c2c6d55..d9be939db75 100644
--- a/app/controllers/topics_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/topics_controller.rb
@@ -62,14 +62,19 @@ class TopicsController < ApplicationController
       topic.archetype = "regular" if params[:archetype] == 'regular'
     end
 
+    success = false
     Topic.transaction do
-      topic.save
-      topic.change_category(params[:category])
+      success = topic.save
+      topic.change_category(params[:category]) if success
     end
 
     # this is used to return the title to the client as it may have been
     # changed by "TextCleaner"
-    render_serialized(topic, BasicTopicSerializer)
+    if success
+      render_serialized(topic, BasicTopicSerializer)
+    else
+      render_json_error(topic)
+    end
   end
 
   def similar_to
diff --git a/app/models/post.rb b/app/models/post.rb
index ae977efcd90..7c4525e61f9 100644
--- a/app/models/post.rb
+++ b/app/models/post.rb
@@ -327,6 +327,8 @@ class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
   # TODO: Move some of this into an asynchronous job?
   # TODO: Move into PostCreator
   after_create do
+
+    Rails.logger.info (">" * 30) + "#{no_bump} #{created_at}"
     # Update attributes on the topic - featured users and last posted.
     attrs = {last_posted_at: created_at, last_post_user_id: user_id}
     attrs[:bumped_at] = created_at unless no_bump
diff --git a/app/models/topic.rb b/app/models/topic.rb
index 25c624608e1..80b3a30d4c8 100644
--- a/app/models/topic.rb
+++ b/app/models/topic.rb
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class Topic < ActiveRecord::Base
                                         :case_sensitive => false,
                                         :collection => Proc.new{ Topic.listable_topics } }
 
-  after_validation do
+  before_validation do
     self.title = TextCleaner.clean_title(TextSentinel.title_sentinel(title).text) if errors[:title].empty?
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/controllers/topics_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/topics_controller_spec.rb
index 8e625553567..fe600a116df 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/topics_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/topics_controller_spec.rb
@@ -487,6 +487,11 @@ describe TopicsController do
           xhr :put, :update, topic_id: @topic.id, slug: @topic.title, category: 'incredible'
         end
 
+        it "returns errors with invalid titles" do
+          xhr :put, :update, topic_id: @topic.id, slug: @topic.title, title: 'asdf'
+          expect(response).not_to be_success
+        end
+
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/spec/models/topic_spec.rb b/spec/models/topic_spec.rb
index c2fd081250e..e65ab4cb4fd 100644
--- a/spec/models/topic_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/topic_spec.rb
@@ -43,6 +43,15 @@ describe Topic do
 
   end
 
+  context "updating a title to be shorter" do
+    let!(:topic) { Fabricate(:topic) }
+
+    it "doesn't update it to be shorter due to cleaning using TextCleaner" do
+      topic.title = 'unread    glitch'
+      topic.save.should be_false
+    end
+  end
+
   context 'topic title uniqueness' do
 
     let!(:topic) { Fabricate(:topic) }