diff --git a/src/components/Chat.jsx b/src/components/Chat.jsx
index 99088ae..83fb44a 100644
--- a/src/components/Chat.jsx
+++ b/src/components/Chat.jsx
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ const Chat = ({
               ‣
             </button>
             <select
-              style={{ flexGrow: 0 }}
+              style={{ width: 50 }}
               onChange={(evt) => {
                 const sel = evt.target;
                 setChannel(sel.options[sel.selectedIndex].value);
diff --git a/src/core/me.js b/src/core/me.js
index 0b4ad0c..fd86422 100644
--- a/src/core/me.js
+++ b/src/core/me.js
@@ -30,10 +30,12 @@ export default async function getMe(user) {
   delete userdata.mailVerified;
   delete userdata.mcVerified;
 
-  const channels = [...chatProvider.defaultChannels];
+  userdata.channels = [
+    ...chatProvider.defaultChannels,
+    ...userdata.channels,
+  ];
 
   userdata.canvases = canvases;
-  userdata.channels = channels;
 
   return userdata;
 }
diff --git a/src/core/minecraft.js b/src/core/minecraft.js
index a4a48e8..2feb667 100644
--- a/src/core/minecraft.js
+++ b/src/core/minecraft.js
@@ -20,8 +20,7 @@ class Minecraft {
     user.minecraftname = minecraftname;
     const reguser = await RegUser.findOne({ where: { minecraftid } });
     if (reguser && reguser.mcVerified) {
-      user.id = reguser.id;
-      user.regUser = reguser;
+      user.setRegUser(reguser);
       reguser.update({ minecraftname });
     }
     this.online[minecraftid] = user;
@@ -86,7 +85,7 @@ class Minecraft {
         if (reguser && reguser.mcVerified) {
           user.id = reguser.id;
           user.minecraftname = reguser.minecraftname;
-          user.regUser = reguser;
+          user.setRegUser(reguser);
         } else {
           user.minecraftname = minecraftid;
         }
@@ -110,7 +109,7 @@ class Minecraft {
       RegUser.findOne({ where: { minecraftname } }).then((reguser) => {
         if (reguser && reguser.mcVerified) {
           user.id = reguser.id;
-          user.regUser = reguser;
+          user.setRegUser(reguser);
           // this.online[reguser.minecraftid] = user;
         }
       });
diff --git a/src/core/passport.js b/src/core/passport.js
index 35d4002..5f8ea78 100644
--- a/src/core/passport.js
+++ b/src/core/passport.js
@@ -35,11 +35,7 @@ passport.deserializeUser(async (req, id, done) => {
       },
     }).then((reguser) => {
       if (reguser) {
-        user.regUser = reguser;
-        user.id = id;
-        for (let i = 0; i < reguser.channel.length; i += 1) {
-          user.channelIds.push(reguser.channel[i].id);
-        }
+        user.setRegUser(reguser);
       } else {
         user.id = null;
       }
@@ -67,7 +63,13 @@ passport.use(new JsonStrategy({
     const query = (nameoremail.indexOf('@') !== -1)
       ? { email: nameoremail }
       : { name: nameoremail };
-    RegUser.findOne({ where: query }).then((reguser) => {
+    RegUser.findOne({
+      include: {
+        model: Channel,
+        as: 'channel',
+      },
+      where: query,
+    }).then((reguser) => {
       if (!reguser) {
         return done(null, false, { message: 'Name or Email does not exist!' });
       }
@@ -75,7 +77,7 @@ passport.use(new JsonStrategy({
         return done(null, false, { message: 'Incorrect password!' });
       }
       const user = new User(reguser.id);
-      user.regUser = reguser;
+      user.setRegUser(reguser);
       user.updateLogInTimestamp();
       return done(null, user);
     });
@@ -93,15 +95,33 @@ async function oauthLogin(email, name, discordid = null) {
     throw new Error('You don\'t have a mail set in your account.');
   }
   name = sanitizeName(name);
-  let reguser = await RegUser.findOne({ where: { email } });
+  let reguser = await RegUser.findOne({
+    include: {
+      model: Channel,
+      as: 'channel',
+    },
+    where: { email },
+  });
   if (!reguser) {
-    reguser = await RegUser.findOne({ where: { name } });
+    reguser = await RegUser.findOne({
+      include: {
+        model: Channel,
+        as: 'channel',
+      },
+      where: { name },
+    });
     while (reguser) {
       // name is taken by someone else
       // eslint-disable-next-line max-len
       name = `${name.substring(0, 15)}-${Math.random().toString(36).substring(2, 10)}`;
       // eslint-disable-next-line no-await-in-loop
-      reguser = await RegUser.findOne({ where: { name } });
+      reguser = await RegUser.findOne({
+        include: {
+          model: Channel,
+          as: 'channel',
+        },
+        where: { name },
+      });
     }
     reguser = await RegUser.create({
       email,
@@ -114,7 +134,7 @@ async function oauthLogin(email, name, discordid = null) {
     reguser.update({ discordid });
   }
   const user = new User(reguser.id);
-  user.regUser = reguser;
+  user.setRegUser(reguser);
   return user;
 }
 
@@ -193,15 +213,33 @@ passport.use(new RedditStrategy({
     let name = sanitizeName(profile.name);
     // reddit needs an own login strategy based on its id,
     // because we can not access it's mail
-    let reguser = await RegUser.findOne({ where: { redditid } });
+    let reguser = await RegUser.findOne({
+      include: {
+        model: Channel,
+        as: 'channel',
+      },
+      where: { redditid },
+    });
     if (!reguser) {
-      reguser = await RegUser.findOne({ where: { name } });
+      reguser = await RegUser.findOne({
+        include: {
+          model: Channel,
+          as: 'channel',
+        },
+        where: { name },
+      });
       while (reguser) {
         // name is taken by someone else
         // eslint-disable-next-line max-len
         name = `${name.substring(0, 15)}-${Math.random().toString(36).substring(2, 10)}`;
         // eslint-disable-next-line no-await-in-loop
-        reguser = await RegUser.findOne({ where: { name } });
+        reguser = await RegUser.findOne({
+          include: {
+            model: Channel,
+            as: 'channel',
+          },
+          where: { name },
+        });
       }
       reguser = await RegUser.create({
         name,
@@ -210,7 +248,7 @@ passport.use(new RedditStrategy({
       });
     }
     const user = new User(reguser.id);
-    user.regUser = reguser;
+    user.setRegUser(reguser);
     done(null, user);
   } catch (err) {
     done(err);
diff --git a/src/data/models/Channel.js b/src/data/models/Channel.js
index 55a60a7..60cc610 100644
--- a/src/data/models/Channel.js
+++ b/src/data/models/Channel.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 import DataType from 'sequelize';
 import Model from '../sequelize';
+import RegUser from './RegUser';
 
 const Channel = Model.define('Channel', {
   // Channel ID
@@ -19,7 +20,19 @@ const Channel = Model.define('Channel', {
 
   name: {
     type: `${DataType.CHAR(32)} CHARSET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci`,
+    allowNull: true,
+  },
+
+  /*
+   * 0: public channel
+   * 1: DM
+   * 2: Group (not implemented)
+   * 3: faction (not implemented)
+   */
+  type: {
+    type: DataType.TINYINT,
     allowNull: false,
+    defaultValue: 0,
   },
 
   lastMessage: {
@@ -30,4 +43,20 @@ const Channel = Model.define('Channel', {
   updatedAt: false,
 });
 
+/*
+ * Direct Message User id
+ * just set if channel is DM
+ * (associating it here allows us too
+ * keep track of users leaving and joining DMs and ending up
+ * in the same conversation)
+ */
+Channel.belongsTo(RegUser, {
+  as: 'dmu1',
+  foreignKey: 'dmu1id',
+});
+Channel.belongsTo(RegUser, {
+  as: 'dmu2',
+  foreignKey: 'dmu2id',
+});
+
 export default Channel;
diff --git a/src/data/models/User.js b/src/data/models/User.js
index cabc7de..bc25a45 100644
--- a/src/data/models/User.js
+++ b/src/data/models/User.js
@@ -23,11 +23,14 @@ class User {
   ip: string;
   wait: ?number;
   regUser: Object;
+  channels: Array;
 
   constructor(id: string = null, ip: string = '127.0.0.1') {
     // id should stay null if unregistered
     this.id = id;
     this.ip = ip;
+    this.channels = [];
+    this.channelIds = [];
     this.ipSub = getIPv6Subnet(ip);
     this.wait = null;
     // following gets populated by passport
@@ -50,6 +53,18 @@ class User {
     }
   }
 
+  setRegUser(reguser) {
+    this.regUser = reguser;
+    this.id = reguser.id;
+    for (let i = 0; i < reguser.channel.length; i += 1) {
+      this.channelIds.push(reguser.channel[i].id);
+      this.channels.push([
+        reguser.channel[i].id,
+        reguser.channel[i].name,
+      ]);
+    }
+  }
+
   getName() {
     return (this.regUser) ? this.regUser.name : null;
   }
@@ -149,6 +164,7 @@ class User {
     if (this.regUser == null) {
       return {
         name: null,
+        channels: this.channels,
       };
     }
     const { regUser } = this;
@@ -163,6 +179,7 @@ class User {
       dailyRanking: regUser.dailyRanking,
       mailreg: !!(regUser.password),
       userlvl: this.isAdmin() ? 1 : 0,
+      channels: this.channels,
     };
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/data/models/index.js b/src/data/models/index.js
index 89b8662..763f5a7 100644
--- a/src/data/models/index.js
+++ b/src/data/models/index.js
@@ -22,15 +22,7 @@ function sync(...args) {
   return sequelize.sync(...args);
 }
 
-/*
- * makes sure that minimum required rows are present
- *
- */
-function validateTables() {
-
-}
-
-export default { sync, validateTables };
+export default { sync };
 export {
   Whitelist, Blacklist, User, RegUser, Channel, UserChannel, Message,
 };
diff --git a/src/routes/api/auth/register.js b/src/routes/api/auth/register.js
index d4ad06d..fcced3e 100644
--- a/src/routes/api/auth/register.js
+++ b/src/routes/api/auth/register.js
@@ -66,8 +66,7 @@ export default async (req: Request, res: Response) => {
   logger.info(`Created new user ${name} ${email} ${ip}`);
 
   const { user } = req;
-  user.id = newuser.id;
-  user.regUser = newuser;
+  user.setRegUser(newuser);
   const me = await getMe(user);
 
   await req.logIn(user, (err) => {