diff --git a/BackgroundUserListLoad.cs b/BackgroundUserListLoad.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5dcce2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/BackgroundUserListLoad.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+using WorldTime.Data;
+
+namespace WorldTime;
+/// <summary>
+/// Proactively fills the user cache for guilds in which any time zone configuration exists.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>Modeled after BirthdayBot's similar feature.</remarks>
+class BackgroundUserListLoad : IDisposable {
+    private readonly IServiceProvider _services;
+    private readonly Task _workerTask;
+    private readonly CancellationTokenSource _workerCancel;
+
+    public BackgroundUserListLoad(IServiceProvider services) {
+        _services = services;
+        _workerCancel = new();
+        _workerTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(Worker, _workerCancel.Token,
+                      TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning, TaskScheduler.Default);
+    }
+
+    public void Dispose() {
+        _workerCancel.Cancel();
+        _workerCancel.Dispose();
+        _workerTask.Dispose();
+    }
+
+    private async Task Worker() {
+        while (!_workerCancel.IsCancellationRequested) {
+            // Interval same as status
+            await Task.Delay(WorldTime.StatusInterval * 1000, _workerCancel.Token);
+
+            foreach (var shard in _services.GetRequiredService<DiscordShardedClient>().Shards) {
+                try {
+                    await ProcessShard(shard);
+                } catch (Exception ex) {
+                    Program.Log(nameof(BackgroundUserListLoad), ex.ToString());
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private async Task ProcessShard(DiscordSocketClient shard) {
+        using var db = _services.GetRequiredService<BotDatabaseContext>();
+
+        // Check when a guild's cache is incomplete...
+        var incompleteCaches = shard.Guilds.Where(g => !g.HasAllMembers).Select(g => (long)g.Id).ToHashSet();
+        // ...and contains any user data.
+        var mustFetch = db.UserEntries.Where(e => incompleteCaches.Contains(e.GuildId)).Select(e => e.GuildId).Distinct();
+
+        var processed = 0;
+        foreach (var item in mustFetch) {
+            // May cause a disconnect in certain situations. Cancel all further attempts until the next pass if it happens.
+            if (shard.ConnectionState != ConnectionState.Connected) break;
+
+            var guild = shard.GetGuild((ulong)item);
+            if (guild == null) continue; // A guild disappeared...?
+            await guild.DownloadUsersAsync().ConfigureAwait(false); // We're already on a seperate thread, no need to use Task.Run
+            await Task.Delay(200, CancellationToken.None).ConfigureAwait(false); // Must delay, or else it seems to hang...
+            processed++;
+        }
+
+        if (processed > 100) Program.Log(nameof(BackgroundUserListLoad), $"Explicit user list request processed for {processed} guilds.");
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/WorldTime.cs b/WorldTime.cs
index d8f7ab1..904e243 100644
--- a/WorldTime.cs
+++ b/WorldTime.cs
@@ -16,20 +16,15 @@ internal class WorldTime : IDisposable {
     /// Number of seconds between each time the status task runs, in seconds.
     /// </summary>
 #if DEBUG
-    private const int StatusInterval = 20;
+    internal const int StatusInterval = 20;
 #else
-    private const int StatusInterval = 300;
+    internal const int StatusInterval = 300;
 #endif
 
-    /// <summary>
-    /// Number of concurrent shard startups to happen on each check.
-    /// This value is also used in <see cref="DataRetention"/>.
-    /// </summary>
-    public const int MaxConcurrentOperations = 5;
-
     private readonly Task _statusTask;
-    private readonly CancellationTokenSource _mainCancel;
+    private readonly CancellationTokenSource _statusCancel;
     private readonly IServiceProvider _services;
+    private readonly BackgroundUserListLoad _bgFetch;
 
     internal Configuration Config { get; }
     internal DiscordShardedClient DiscordClient => _services.GetRequiredService<DiscordShardedClient>();
@@ -45,7 +40,9 @@ internal class WorldTime : IDisposable {
             LogLevel = LogSeverity.Info,
             DefaultRetryMode = RetryMode.RetryRatelimit,
             MessageCacheSize = 0, // disable message cache
-            GatewayIntents = GatewayIntents.Guilds | GatewayIntents.GuildMembers | GatewayIntents.GuildMessages
+            GatewayIntents = GatewayIntents.Guilds | GatewayIntents.GuildMembers,
+            SuppressUnknownDispatchWarnings = true,
+            LogGatewayIntentWarnings = false
         };
         _services = new ServiceCollection()
             .AddSingleton(new DiscordShardedClient(clientConf))
@@ -54,15 +51,16 @@ internal class WorldTime : IDisposable {
             .BuildServiceProvider();
         DiscordClient.Log += DiscordClient_Log;
         DiscordClient.ShardReady += DiscordClient_ShardReady;
-        DiscordClient.MessageReceived += DiscordClient_MessageReceived;
         var iasrv = _services.GetRequiredService<InteractionService>();
         DiscordClient.InteractionCreated += DiscordClient_InteractionCreated;
         iasrv.SlashCommandExecuted += InteractionService_SlashCommandExecuted;
 
         // Start status reporting thread
-        _mainCancel = new CancellationTokenSource();
-        _statusTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(StatusLoop, _mainCancel.Token,
+        _statusCancel = new CancellationTokenSource();
+        _statusTask = Task.Factory.StartNew(StatusLoop, _statusCancel.Token,
                                               TaskCreationOptions.LongRunning, TaskScheduler.Default);
+
+        _bgFetch = new(_services);
     }
 
     public async Task StartAsync() {
@@ -72,26 +70,24 @@ internal class WorldTime : IDisposable {
     }
 
     public void Dispose() {
-        _mainCancel.Cancel();
+        _statusCancel.Cancel();
         _statusTask.Wait(10000);
         if (!_statusTask.IsCompleted)
             Program.Log(nameof(WorldTime), "Warning: Main thread did not cleanly finish up in time. Continuing...");
 
-        _mainCancel.Cancel();
-        _statusTask.Wait(5000);
-        _mainCancel.Dispose();
+        _statusCancel.Dispose();
 
         Program.Log(nameof(WorldTime), $"Uptime: {Program.BotUptime}");
     }
 
     private async Task StatusLoop() {
         try {
-            await Task.Delay(30000, _mainCancel.Token).ConfigureAwait(false); // initial 30 second delay
-            while (!_mainCancel.IsCancellationRequested) {
+            await Task.Delay(30000, _statusCancel.Token).ConfigureAwait(false); // initial 30 second delay
+            while (!_statusCancel.IsCancellationRequested) {
                 Program.Log(nameof(WorldTime), $"Bot uptime: {Program.BotUptime}");
                 
-                await PeriodicReport(DiscordClient.CurrentUser.Id, DiscordClient.Guilds.Count, _mainCancel.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
-                await Task.Delay(StatusInterval * 1000, _mainCancel.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                await PeriodicReport(DiscordClient.CurrentUser.Id, DiscordClient.Guilds.Count, _statusCancel.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                await Task.Delay(StatusInterval * 1000, _statusCancel.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
             }
         } catch (TaskCanceledException) { }
     }
@@ -173,25 +169,6 @@ internal class WorldTime : IDisposable {
 #endif
     }
 
-    /// <summary>
-    /// Non-specific handler for incoming events.
-    /// </summary>
-    private async Task DiscordClient_MessageReceived(SocketMessage message) {
-        if (message.Author.IsWebhook) return;
-        if (message.Type != MessageType.Default) return;
-        if (message.Channel is not SocketTextChannel channel) return;
-
-        // Proactively fill guild user cache if the bot has any data for the respective guild
-        // Can skip an extra query if the last_seen update is known to have been successful, otherwise query for any users
-        if (!channel.Guild.HasAllMembers) {
-            using var db = _services.GetRequiredService<BotDatabaseContext>();
-            if (db.HasAnyUsers(channel.Guild)) {
-                // Event handler hangs if awaited normally or used with Task.Run
-                await Task.Factory.StartNew(channel.Guild.DownloadUsersAsync);
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
     const string InternalError = ":x: An unknown error occurred. If it persists, please notify the bot owner.";
 
     // Slash command preparation and invocation