diff --git a/database/conference.go b/database/conference.go
index cd964f0..dab7909 100644
--- a/database/conference.go
+++ b/database/conference.go
@@ -190,8 +190,11 @@ func AmGetConference(id int32) (*Conference, error) {
  *     Standard Go error status.
  */
 func AmGetConferenceByAlias(alias string) (*Conference, error) {
-	confid, ok := conferenceAliasMap.Load(alias)
-	if !ok {
+	var confid int32
+	xconf, ok := conferenceAliasMap.Load(alias)
+	if ok {
+		confid = xconf.(int32)
+	} else {
 		rs, err := amdb.Query("SELECT confid FROM confalias WHERE alias = ?", alias)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
@@ -202,7 +205,7 @@ func AmGetConferenceByAlias(alias string) (*Conference, error) {
 		rs.Scan(&confid)
 		conferenceAliasMap.Store(alias, confid)
 	}
-	return AmGetConference(int32(confid.(int)))
+	return AmGetConference(confid)
 }
 
 /* AmGetConferenceByAliasInCommunity returns a conference in a community given its alias.
diff --git a/database/post_link.go b/database/post_link.go
index fb510cf..001c733 100644
--- a/database/post_link.go
+++ b/database/post_link.go
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@ func AmDecodePostLink(data string) (*PostLinkData, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
+		return &rc, nil
 	}
 
 	// Peel off the initial substring before the dot.
@@ -199,23 +200,22 @@ func AmDecodePostLink(data string) (*PostLinkData, error) {
 	work = work[pos+1:]
 	if len(work) == 0 {
 		// we had "conference." or "topic." or maybe "community!conference."
+		var err error
 		if rc.Community == "" {
 			// it's either "conference." or "topic." - try the latter first
-			err := decodeTopicNumber(confOrTopic, &rc)
+			err = decodeTopicNumber(confOrTopic, &rc)
 			if err != nil {
 				// it's not a topic number, try it as a conference name
 				err = validateConference(confOrTopic, &rc)
 			}
-			if err != nil {
-				return nil, err
-			}
 		} else {
 			// it was "community!conference."
-			err := validateConference(confOrTopic, &rc)
-			if err != nil {
-				return nil, err
-			}
+			err = validateConference(confOrTopic, &rc)
 		}
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		return &rc, nil
 	}
 
 	// Third test: Dot #2
diff --git a/htmlcheck/checker.go b/htmlcheck/checker.go
index 52dd9bc..e9cacf8 100644
--- a/htmlcheck/checker.go
+++ b/htmlcheck/checker.go
@@ -64,13 +64,13 @@ type htmlCheckerBackend interface {
 
 // State constants for the state machine.
 const (
-	stateWhitespace = 0
-	stateChars      = 1
-	stateLeftAngle  = 2
-	stateTag        = 3
-	stateParen      = 4
-	stateTagQuote   = 5
-	stateNewline    = 6
+	stateWhitespace = 0 // processing whitespace
+	stateChars      = 1 // processing character data
+	stateLeftAngle  = 2 // processing a left angle bracket
+	stateTag        = 3 // processing the contents of a tag
+	stateParen      = 4 // processing a string in parentheses
+	stateTagQuote   = 5 // processing a quoted string inside a tag
+	stateNewline    = 6 // processing newlines
 )
 
 // htmlMarginSlop is a number of characters at the end of the line used to control word-wrapping.