diff --git a/.rubocop.yml b/.rubocop.yml
index ab27e3b3..dc25f913 100644
--- a/.rubocop.yml
+++ b/.rubocop.yml
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@
 require:
   - ./extras/prohibit_safe_navigation
   - ./extras/prohibit_form_for_and_form_tag
-Rails:
-  Enabled: true
+  - rubocop-rails
 AllCops:
   Include:
     - '**/*.rb'
@@ -43,7 +42,7 @@ Layout/EmptyLinesAroundExceptionHandlingKeywords:
   Enabled: false
 Layout/EndAlignment:
   EnforcedStyleAlignWith: variable
-Layout/IndentHash:
+Layout/IndentFirstHashElement:
   EnforcedStyle: consistent
 Layout/MultilineMethodCallBraceLayout:
   Enabled: false
@@ -97,10 +96,6 @@ Naming/VariableName:
   Enabled: false
 
 # Performance
-Performance/Casecmp:
-  Enabled: false
-Performance/RedundantMatch:
-  Enabled: false
 
 # Rails
 Rails/Blank:
@@ -115,6 +110,8 @@ Rails/Present:
   UnlessBlank: false
 Rails/SkipsModelValidations:
   Enabled: false
+Rails/HelperInstanceVariable:
+  Enabled: false
 
 # Security
 
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 1deb93a0..0122f35a 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ group :test, :development do
   gem "rspec-rails"
   gem "factory_bot_rails"
   gem "rubocop", require: false
+  gem "rubocop-rails", require: false
   gem "rubocop-rspec", require: false
   gem "faker"
   gem "byebug"
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index ee2f98b2..b2bb1164 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ GEM
     htmlentities (4.3.4)
     i18n (1.6.0)
       concurrent-ruby (~> 1.0)
-    jaro_winkler (1.5.1)
+    jaro_winkler (1.5.2)
     jquery-rails (4.3.3)
       rails-dom-testing (>= 1, < 3)
       railties (>= 4.2.0)
@@ -128,10 +128,9 @@ GEM
     nokogiri (1.10.1)
       mini_portile2 (~> 2.4.0)
     oauth (0.5.4)
-    parallel (1.12.1)
-    parser (2.5.3.0)
+    parallel (1.17.0)
+    parser (2.6.3.0)
       ast (~> 2.4.0)
-    powerpack (0.1.2)
     public_suffix (3.0.3)
     rack (2.0.6)
     rack-test (1.1.0)
@@ -189,19 +188,21 @@ GEM
       rspec-mocks (~> 3.8.0)
       rspec-support (~> 3.8.0)
     rspec-support (3.8.0)
-    rubocop (0.60.0)
+    rubocop (0.71.0)
       jaro_winkler (~> 1.5.1)
       parallel (~> 1.10)
-      parser (>= 2.5, != 2.5.1.1)
-      powerpack (~> 0.1)
+      parser (>= 2.6)
       rainbow (>= 2.2.2, < 4.0)
       ruby-progressbar (~> 1.7)
-      unicode-display_width (~> 1.4.0)
-    rubocop-rspec (1.30.1)
+      unicode-display_width (>= 1.4.0, < 1.7)
+    rubocop-rails (2.0.1)
+      rack (>= 1.1)
+      rubocop (>= 0.70.0)
+    rubocop-rspec (1.33.0)
       rubocop (>= 0.60.0)
     ruby-enum (0.7.2)
       i18n
-    ruby-progressbar (1.10.0)
+    ruby-progressbar (1.10.1)
     ruby_dep (1.5.0)
     ruumba (0.1.8)
       rubocop
@@ -226,7 +227,7 @@ GEM
       thread_safe (~> 0.1)
     uglifier (4.1.20)
       execjs (>= 0.3.0, < 3)
-    unicode-display_width (1.4.0)
+    unicode-display_width (1.6.0)
     unicorn (5.4.1)
       kgio (~> 2.6)
       raindrops (~> 0.7)
@@ -268,6 +269,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   rqrcode
   rspec-rails
   rubocop
+  rubocop-rails
   rubocop-rspec
   ruumba
   scenic
diff --git a/app/models/comment.rb b/app/models/comment.rb
index 33e2fd68..7df9f426 100644
--- a/app/models/comment.rb
+++ b/app/models/comment.rb
@@ -9,13 +9,13 @@ class Comment < ApplicationRecord
   belongs_to :parent_comment,
              :class_name => "Comment",
              :inverse_of => false,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
   has_one :moderation,
           :class_name => "Moderation",
           :inverse_of => :comment,
           :dependent => :destroy
   belongs_to :hat,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
   has_many :taggings, through: :story
 
   attr_accessor :current_vote, :previewing, :indent_level
diff --git a/app/models/invitation.rb b/app/models/invitation.rb
index 8281844a..39d8605f 100644
--- a/app/models/invitation.rb
+++ b/app/models/invitation.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 class Invitation < ApplicationRecord
   belongs_to :user
-  belongs_to :new_user, class_name: 'User', inverse_of: nil, required: false
+  belongs_to :new_user, class_name: 'User', inverse_of: nil, optional: true
 
   scope :used, -> { where.not(:used_at => nil) }
   scope :unused, -> { where(:used_at => nil) }
diff --git a/app/models/message.rb b/app/models/message.rb
index 1e1716f5..fa3e9b14 100644
--- a/app/models/message.rb
+++ b/app/models/message.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ class Message < ApplicationRecord
              :foreign_key => "author_user_id",
              :inverse_of => :sent_messages
   belongs_to :hat,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
 
   attribute :mod_note, :boolean
   attr_reader :recipient_username
diff --git a/app/models/moderation.rb b/app/models/moderation.rb
index b45a2cb9..f6801708 100644
--- a/app/models/moderation.rb
+++ b/app/models/moderation.rb
@@ -3,15 +3,15 @@ class Moderation < ApplicationRecord
              :class_name => "User",
              :foreign_key => "moderator_user_id",
              :inverse_of => :moderations,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
   belongs_to :comment,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
   belongs_to :story,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
   belongs_to :tag,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
   belongs_to :user,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
 
   scope :for, ->(user) {
     left_outer_joins(:story, :comment) .where("
diff --git a/app/models/story.rb b/app/models/story.rb
index 13562985..c705b151 100644
--- a/app/models/story.rb
+++ b/app/models/story.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ class Story < ApplicationRecord
              :class_name => "Story",
              :foreign_key => "merged_story_id",
              :inverse_of => :merged_stories,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
   has_many :merged_stories,
            :class_name => "Story",
            :foreign_key => "merged_story_id",
diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index 81b0d75b..7dcd3010 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -22,15 +22,15 @@ class User < ApplicationRecord
   belongs_to :invited_by_user,
              :class_name => "User",
              :inverse_of => false,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
   belongs_to :banned_by_user,
              :class_name => "User",
              :inverse_of => false,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
   belongs_to :disabled_invite_by_user,
              :class_name => "User",
              :inverse_of => false,
-             :required => false
+             :optional => true
   has_many :invitations, :dependent => :destroy
   has_many :moderations,
            :inverse_of => :moderator,
diff --git a/app/models/vote.rb b/app/models/vote.rb
index 4f562544..915d6cce 100644
--- a/app/models/vote.rb
+++ b/app/models/vote.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 class Vote < ApplicationRecord
-  belongs_to :user, required: false
-  belongs_to :story, required: false
-  belongs_to :comment, required: false
+  belongs_to :user, optional: true
+  belongs_to :story, optional: true
+  belongs_to :comment, optional: true
 
   COMMENT_REASONS = {
     "O" => "Off-topic",
diff --git a/script/parse_inbound_mail b/script/parse_inbound_mail
index 973492a1..243ccbab 100755
--- a/script/parse_inbound_mail
+++ b/script/parse_inbound_mail
@@ -24,22 +24,22 @@ if parser.been_here?
   exit
 
 elsif !parser.sending_user
-  STDERR.puts "no active user with mailing list token #{parser.user_token}"
+  warn "no active user with mailing list token #{parser.user_token}"
 
   # if this looks like a user token but invalid, generate a bounce to be
   # helpful.  otherwise supress it to avoid talking back to spammers
   exit(parser.user_token ? EX_NOUSER : 0)
 
 elsif !parser.email
-  STDERR.puts "error parsing e-mail"
+  warn "error parsing e-mail"
   exit EX_UNAVAILABLE
 
 elsif !parser.parent
-  STDERR.puts "no valid comment or story being replied to"
+  warn "no valid comment or story being replied to"
   exit EX_NOUSER
 
 elsif !parser.body.present?
-  STDERR.puts "no valid text/plain body found"
+  warn "no valid text/plain body found"
   exit EX_UNAVAILABLE
 end
 
@@ -58,6 +58,6 @@ end
 if c.save
   exit
 else
-  STDERR.puts c.errors.inspect
+  warn c.errors.inspect
   exit EX_UNAVAILABLE
 end
diff --git a/script/sync_twitter_users b/script/sync_twitter_users
index b70a50fc..37335d53 100755
--- a/script/sync_twitter_users
+++ b/script/sync_twitter_users
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ if their_users.empty?
   raise "Intemittent Twitter bug: they said the list is empty when it's not"
 end
 if their_users.count >= 5000
-  STDERR.puts "need to implement paging for list members"
+  warn "need to implement paging for list members"
 end
 
 # fetch our active users that have a linked twitter account
diff --git a/spec/controllers/tags_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/tags_controller_spec.rb
index 6dbe221a..15c1c351 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/tags_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/tags_controller_spec.rb
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ describe TagsController do
         hotness_mod: 1.5,
         privileged: true,
         inactive: true,
-      }, }
+      } }
       tag = Tag.find_by(tag: 'mytag')
       expect(tag.description).to eq 'desc'
       expect(tag.is_media).to be true