diff --git a/qa-include/app/mailing.php b/qa-include/app/mailing.php
index 1e78d09b7..3f65c3e96 100644
--- a/qa-include/app/mailing.php
+++ b/qa-include/app/mailing.php
@@ -59,48 +59,60 @@ function qa_mailing_stop()
 function qa_mailing_perform_step()
 {
 	require_once QA_INCLUDE_DIR . 'db/users.php';
+	require_once QA_INCLUDE_DIR . 'app/users.php';
 
 	$lastuserid = qa_opt('mailing_last_userid');
 
-	if (strlen($lastuserid)) {
-		$thistime = time();
-		$lasttime = qa_opt('mailing_last_timestamp');
-		$perminute = qa_opt('mailing_per_minute');
+	if (strlen($lastuserid) == 0) {
+		return;
+	}
+
+	$thistime = time();
+	$lasttime = qa_opt('mailing_last_timestamp');
+	$perminute = qa_opt('mailing_per_minute');
 
-		if (($lasttime - $thistime) > 60) // if it's been a while, we assume there hasn't been continuous mailing...
-			$lasttime = $thistime - 1; // ... so only do 1 second's worth
-		else // otherwise...
-			$lasttime = max($lasttime, $thistime - 6); // ... don't do more than 6 seconds' worth
+	if (($lasttime - $thistime) > 60) // if it's been a while, we assume there hasn't been continuous mailing...
+		$lasttime = $thistime - 1; // ... so only do 1 second's worth
+	else // otherwise...
+		$lasttime = max($lasttime, $thistime - 6); // ... don't do more than 6 seconds' worth
 
-		$count = min(floor(($thistime - $lasttime) * $perminute / 60), 100); // don't do more than 100 messages at a time
+	$count = min(floor(($thistime - $lasttime) * $perminute / 60), 100); // don't do more than 100 messages at a time
 
-		if ($count > 0) {
-			qa_opt('mailing_last_timestamp', $thistime + 30);
-			// prevents a parallel call to qa_mailing_perform_step() from sending messages, unless we're very unlucky with timing (poor man's mutex)
+	if ($count == 0) {
+		return;
+	}
 
-			$sentusers = 0;
-			$users = qa_db_users_get_mailing_next($lastuserid, $count);
+	qa_opt('mailing_last_timestamp', $thistime + 30);
+	// prevents a parallel call to qa_mailing_perform_step() from sending messages, unless we're very unlucky with timing (poor man's mutex)
 
-			if (count($users)) {
-				foreach ($users as $user) {
-					$lastuserid = max($lastuserid, $user['userid']);
-				}
+	$sentusers = 0;
+	$users = qa_db_users_get_mailing_next($lastuserid, $count);
 
-				qa_opt('mailing_last_userid', $lastuserid);
-				qa_opt('mailing_done_users', qa_opt('mailing_done_users') + count($users));
+	if (count($users)) {
+		foreach ($users as $user) {
+			$lastuserid = max($lastuserid, $user['userid']);
+		}
 
-				foreach ($users as $user) {
-					if (!($user['flags'] & QA_USER_FLAGS_NO_MAILINGS)) {
-						qa_mailing_send_one($user['userid'], $user['handle'], $user['email'], $user['emailcode']);
-						$sentusers++;
-					}
-				}
+		qa_opt('mailing_last_userid', $lastuserid);
+		qa_opt('mailing_done_users', qa_opt('mailing_done_users') + count($users));
 
-				qa_opt('mailing_last_timestamp', $lasttime + $sentusers * 60 / $perminute); // can be floating point result, based on number of mails actually sent
+		$isModeratingUsers = qa_opt('moderate_users');
 
-			} else
-				qa_mailing_stop();
+		foreach ($users as $user) {
+			if (($user['flags'] & QA_USER_FLAGS_NO_MAILINGS) || // exclude users who don't want to get the mailings
+				($user['flags'] & QA_USER_FLAGS_USER_BLOCKED) || // exclude blocked users
+				($isModeratingUsers && ($user['level'] < QA_USER_LEVEL_APPROVED))) { // if moderating users exclude unapproved users
+				continue;
+			}
+
+			qa_mailing_send_one($user['userid'], $user['handle'], $user['email'], $user['emailcode']);
+			$sentusers++;
 		}
+
+		qa_opt('mailing_last_timestamp', $lasttime + $sentusers * 60 / $perminute); // can be floating point result, based on number of mails actually sent
+
+	} else {
+		qa_mailing_stop();
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/qa-include/db/users.php b/qa-include/db/users.php
index 9b90a92ee..95a11b1d1 100644
--- a/qa-include/db/users.php
+++ b/qa-include/db/users.php
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ function qa_db_user_levels_set($userid, $userlevels)
 function qa_db_users_get_mailing_next($lastuserid, $count)
 {
 	return qa_db_read_all_assoc(qa_db_query_sub(
-		'SELECT userid, email, handle, emailcode, flags FROM ^users WHERE userid># ORDER BY userid LIMIT #',
+		'SELECT userid, email, handle, emailcode, flags, level FROM ^users WHERE userid># ORDER BY userid LIMIT #',
 		$lastuserid, $count
 	));
 }