--- a/src/core/strings.cc	Thu Nov 02 15:22:02 2023 -0400
+++ b/src/core/strings.cc	Fri Nov 03 09:00:46 2023 -0400
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 namespace Strings {
 
+/* ew */
 std::string Implode(const std::vector<std::string>& vector, const std::string& delimiter) {
 	if (vector.size() < 1)
 		return "-";
@@ -26,6 +27,8 @@
 	return out;
 }
 
+/* This function is really only used for cleaning up the synopsis of
+   horrible HTML debris from AniList :) */
 std::string ReplaceAll(std::string string, const std::string& find, const std::string& replace) {
 	size_t pos = 0;
 	while ((pos = string.find(find, pos)) != std::string::npos) {
@@ -35,29 +38,28 @@
 	return string;
 }
 
-/* :) */
 std::string SanitizeLineEndings(const std::string& string) {
 	return ReplaceAll(ReplaceAll(ReplaceAll(string, "\r\n", "\n"), "<br>", "\n"), "\n\n\n", "\n\n");
 }
 
 /* removes dumb HTML tags because anilist is aids and
    gives us HTML for synopses :/ */
-std::string RemoveHtmlTags(const std::string& string) {
-	std::string html(string);
-	while (html.find("<") != std::string::npos) {
-		auto startpos = html.find("<");
-		auto endpos = html.find(">") + 1;
+std::string RemoveHtmlTags(std::string string) {
+	while (string.find("<") != std::string::npos) {
+		auto startpos = string.find("<");
+		auto endpos = string.find(">") + 1;
 
-		if (endpos != std::string::npos) {
-			html.erase(startpos, endpos - startpos);
-		}
+		if (endpos != std::string::npos)
+			string.erase(startpos, endpos - startpos);
 	}
-	return html;
+	return string;
 }
 
 /* e.g. "&lt;" for "<" */
-std::string ParseHtmlEntities(const std::string& string) {
+std::string ParseHtmlEntities(std::string string) {
 	const std::unordered_map<std::string, std::string> map = {
+		/* The only one of these I can understand using are the first
+		   three. why do the rest of these exist? */
 		{"&lt;", "<"},
 		{"&rt;", ">"},
 		{"&nbsp;", "\xA0"},
@@ -73,13 +75,13 @@
 		{"&rsquo;", "’"} // Haibane Renmei, AniList
 	};
 
-	std::string ret = string;
 	for (const auto& item : map)
-		ret = ReplaceAll(ret, item.first, item.second);
-	return ret;
+		if (string.find(item.first) != std::string::npos)
+			string = ReplaceAll(string, item.first, item.second);
+	return string;
 }
 
-/* */
+/* removes stupid HTML stuff */
 std::string TextifySynopsis(const std::string& string) {
 	return ParseHtmlEntities(RemoveHtmlTags(SanitizeLineEndings(string)));
 }
@@ -87,7 +89,9 @@
 /* let Qt handle the heavy lifting of locale shit
    I don't want to deal with */
 std::string ToUpper(const std::string& string) {
-	/* todo: this "locale" will have to be moved to session.h */
+	/* todo: this "locale" will have to be moved to session.h
+	   it also defaults to en-US, which sucks very much for
+	   anyone who doesn't speak american english... */
 	QLocale locale;
 	return ToUtf8String(locale.toUpper(ToQString(string)));
 }