diff --git a/app/services/notifications/update.rb b/app/services/notifications/update.rb
index 77359287b..728b0b7ce 100644
--- a/app/services/notifications/update.rb
+++ b/app/services/notifications/update.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ module Notifications
         notifiable_type: notifiable.class.name,
         action: action,
       )
-      return if notifications.blank?
+      # as we only select the first notification right after, there is no need
+      # to load all of them in memory with `.blank?`, thus we choose `.none?`
+      return if notifications.none?
 
       new_json_data = notifications.first.json_data || {}
       new_json_data[notifiable.class.name.downcase] = public_send("#{notifiable.class.name.downcase}_data", notifiable)
diff --git a/app/services/users/delete_articles.rb b/app/services/users/delete_articles.rb
index 34e86fc13..f520fcf3c 100644
--- a/app/services/users/delete_articles.rb
+++ b/app/services/users/delete_articles.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ module Users
     module_function
 
     def call(user, cache_buster = CacheBuster)
-      return unless user.articles.any?
+      return if user.articles.blank?
 
       virtual_articles = user.articles.map { |article| Article.new(article.attributes) }
       user.articles.find_each do |article|
diff --git a/app/views/additional_content_boxes/boxes.html.erb b/app/views/additional_content_boxes/boxes.html.erb
index ea8ad380c..6d1236ad5 100644
--- a/app/views/additional_content_boxes/boxes.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/additional_content_boxes/boxes.html.erb
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
              follow_cue: @boosted_article.organization&.tag_line || @boosted_article.organization&.tag_line %>
 <% end %>
 
-<% if @suggested_articles.any? %>
+<%# the pattern .present?/.each has the advantage of issuing only a single SQL query to load objects in memory %>
+<% if @suggested_articles.present? %>
   <% @suggested_articles.each do |article| %>
     <%= render "additional_content_boxes/article_box",
                article: article,
diff --git a/app/views/articles/_sidebar.html.erb b/app/views/articles/_sidebar.html.erb
index 89745ca97..b1cdfc234 100644
--- a/app/views/articles/_sidebar.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/articles/_sidebar.html.erb
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@
           </span>
         </header>
         <% @sponsorships = Sponsorship.gold.live.includes(:organization).order(featured_number: :asc) %>
-        <% if @sponsorships.any? %>
+        <%# the pattern .present?/.each has the advantage of issuing only a single SQL query to load objects in memory %>
+        <% if @sponsorships.present? %>
           <div class="widget-body">
             <% @sponsorships.each do |sponsorship| %>
               <%= render "articles/single_sponsor", sponsorship: sponsorship %>
diff --git a/app/views/articles/_sidebar_additional.html.erb b/app/views/articles/_sidebar_additional.html.erb
index 608302663..30eb8d106 100644
--- a/app/views/articles/_sidebar_additional.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/articles/_sidebar_additional.html.erb
@@ -161,15 +161,15 @@
     <% end %>
     <% unless user_signed_in? %>
       <% cache("seo-boostable-posts-homepage-#{params[:timeframe]}-xoxo", expires_in: 18.hours) do %>
-        <% @boostable_posts = Article.seo_boostable(nil, Timeframer.new(params[:timeframe]).datetime) %>
-        <% if @boostable_posts.any? %>
+        <% boostable_posts = Article.seo_boostable(nil, Timeframer.new(params[:timeframe]).datetime) %>
+        <% if boostable_posts.present? %>
           <div class="widget">
             <header>
               <h4>trending guides/resources</h4>
             </header>
             <div class="widget-body">
               <div class="widget-link-list">
-                <% @boostable_posts.each do |plucked_article| %>
+                <% boostable_posts.each do |plucked_article| %>
                   <%= render "articles/widget_list_item", plucked_article: plucked_article, show_comment_count: false %>
                 <% end %>
               </div>
diff --git a/app/views/articles/tag_index.html.erb b/app/views/articles/tag_index.html.erb
index d347ee889..0ebb306eb 100644
--- a/app/views/articles/tag_index.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/articles/tag_index.html.erb
@@ -104,7 +104,9 @@
       </div>
 
       <div class="substories" id="substories">
-        <% if @stories.any? %>
+        <%# articles/tags/main_feed will iterate on stories with .each_with_index,
+            thus by using .present? here we preload the items %>
+        <% if @stories.present? %>
           <%= render "articles/tags/main_feed" %>
         <% end %>
       </div>
diff --git a/app/views/articles/tags/_sidebar_additional.html.erb b/app/views/articles/tags/_sidebar_additional.html.erb
index 00ad665fa..aa260de92 100644
--- a/app/views/articles/tags/_sidebar_additional.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/articles/tags/_sidebar_additional.html.erb
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
 <div id="sidebar-wrapper-right" class="sidebar-wrapper sidebar-wrapper-right">
   <div class="sidebar-bg" id="sidebar-bg-right"></div>
   <div class="side-bar sidebar-additional showing" id="sidebar-additional">
-    <% if Article.active_threads([@tag, "discuss"], Timeframer.new(params[:timeframe]).datetime).any? %>
+    <% active_threads = Article.active_threads([@tag, "discuss"], Timeframer.new(params[:timeframe]).datetime) %>
+    <% if active_threads.present? %>
       <div class="widget">
         <header>
           <h4>#discuss</h4>
         </header>
         <div class="widget-body">
           <div class="widget-link-list">
-            <% Article.active_threads([@tag, "discuss"], Timeframer.new(params[:timeframe]).datetime).each do |plucked_article| %>
+            <% active_threads.each do |plucked_article| %>
               <%= render "articles/widget_list_item", plucked_article: plucked_article, show_comment_count: true %>
             <% end %>
           </div>
@@ -21,15 +22,15 @@
       </div>
     <% else %>
       <% cache("seo-boostable-posts-for-tag-#{@tag}-#{params[:timeframe]}-xoxo", expires_in: 18.hours) do %>
-        <% @boostable_posts = Article.seo_boostable(@tag, Timeframer.new(params[:timeframe]).datetime) %>
-        <% if @boostable_posts.any? %>
+        <% boostable_posts = Article.seo_boostable(@tag, Timeframer.new(params[:timeframe]).datetime) %>
+        <% if boostable_posts.present? %>
           <div class="widget">
             <header>
               <h4>trending guides/resources</h4>
             </header>
             <div class="widget-body">
               <div class="widget-link-list">
-                <% @boostable_posts.each do |plucked_article| %>
+                <% boostable_posts.each do |plucked_article| %>
                   <%= render "articles/widget_list_item", plucked_article: plucked_article, show_comment_count: false %>
                 <% end %>
               </div>
@@ -39,4 +40,4 @@
       <% end %>
     <% end %>
   </div>
-</div>
\ No newline at end of file
+</div>
diff --git a/app/views/internal/articles/index.html.erb b/app/views/internal/articles/index.html.erb
index 4b4af4a98..ea75bb362 100644
--- a/app/views/internal/articles/index.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/internal/articles/index.html.erb
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@
     </details>
   </div>
   <div class="col-12">
-    <% if @featured_articles && @featured_articles.any? %>
+    <% if @featured_articles.present? %>
       <h2>Manually Featured Articles</h2>
       <% @featured_articles.each do |article| %>
         <%= render "individual_article", article: article %>
diff --git a/app/views/internal/podcasts/edit.html.erb b/app/views/internal/podcasts/edit.html.erb
index 63747e00a..7e9e2d80a 100644
--- a/app/views/internal/podcasts/edit.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/internal/podcasts/edit.html.erb
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
         <h2 class="m-0"><%= link_to @podcast.title, "/#{@podcast.slug}" %></h2>
       </div>
       <div class="card-body">
-        <% if @podcast.admins.any? %>
+        <% if @podcast.admins.present? %>
           <h3>Admins:</h3>
           <ul class="list-group list-group-flush mb-3">
             <% @podcast.admins.each do |admin| %>
diff --git a/app/views/moderations/mod.html.erb b/app/views/moderations/mod.html.erb
index 7b2457465..0d7907394 100644
--- a/app/views/moderations/mod.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/moderations/mod.html.erb
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@
         <%= f.text_area :reason_for_adjustment, placeholder: "Reason for adjustment (Be super kind) - Only the reason is needed, the notification will take care of the rest.", required: true %>
         <%= f.submit "Submit Tag Adjustment" %>
       <% end %>
-      <% if @adjustments.any? %>
+      <% if @adjustments.present? %>
         <% @adjustments.each do |adjustment| %>
           <% if current_user.any_admin? || adjustment.user_id == current_user.id %>
             <%= form_for(adjustment, url: "/tag_adjustments/#{adjustment.id}", html: { method: :delete, onsubmit: "return confirm('Are you sure you want to undo the #{adjustment.adjustment_type} of the #{adjustment.tag_name} tag?')" }) do |f| %>
diff --git a/app/views/organizations/_sidebar_additional.html.erb b/app/views/organizations/_sidebar_additional.html.erb
index 584e2245c..e69a8e2c2 100644
--- a/app/views/organizations/_sidebar_additional.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/organizations/_sidebar_additional.html.erb
@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@
       </div>
     <% end %>
 
-    <% if @organization.users.present? %>
+    <%# given the probability that organizations can have lots of users,
+        here we're using the any?/find_each pattern to avoid loading possibly
+        too many objects in memory %>
+    <% if @organization.users.any? %>
       <div class="widget">
         <div class="widget-suggested-follows-container">
           <header><h4>meet the team</h4></header>
diff --git a/app/views/organizations/show.html.erb b/app/views/organizations/show.html.erb
index 4bfb0791e..e71cdbe4d 100644
--- a/app/views/organizations/show.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/organizations/show.html.erb
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@
   <%= render "organizations/sidebar" %>
   <div class="articles-list" id="articles-list">
     <div class="substories" id="substories">
-      <% if @stories.any? %>
+      <%# organizations/main_feed will iterate on stories with .each_with_index,
+          thus by using .present? here we preload the items %>
+      <% if @stories.present? %>
         <%= render "organizations/main_feed" %>
       <% end %>
     </div>
diff --git a/app/views/partnerships/_form.html.erb b/app/views/partnerships/_form.html.erb
index c2001a318..bdfe522e9 100644
--- a/app/views/partnerships/_form.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/partnerships/_form.html.erb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<% if !organizations.any? %>
+<% if organizations.none? %>
   <div class="partner-credits-explainer">
     <h4>What next?</h4>
     <h3>Create an Organization</h3>
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
                 <br /><br />Your placement is <em>pending</em>.
               <% end %>
             </div>
-          <% elsif sponsorships.any? %>
+          <% elsif sponsorships.present? %>
             <div class="partner-explainer-notice">
               <%# this should never happen but better safe than sorry %>
               <% sponsorships.each do |sponsorship| %>
diff --git a/app/views/users/_comments_section.html.erb b/app/views/users/_comments_section.html.erb
index e591502d7..667ff3737 100644
--- a/app/views/users/_comments_section.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/users/_comments_section.html.erb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
     }
   </style>
   <div class="index-comments">
-    <% if @comments.any? %>
+    <% if @comments.present? %>
       <% if params[:view] == "comments" %>
         <div class="breadcrumb"><a href="<%= @user.path %>">View All Activity</a></div>
         <header>
diff --git a/app/views/users/_main_feed.html.erb b/app/views/users/_main_feed.html.erb
index 836ca2923..881a52ca9 100644
--- a/app/views/users/_main_feed.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/users/_main_feed.html.erb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<% if @pinned_stories.any? %>
+<% if @pinned_stories.present? %>
   <div class="pinned-articles">
     <div class="pinned-articles-indicator"><img src="<%= asset_path("pushpin.svg") %>" alt="pin" /> Pinned</div>
     <% @pinned_stories.each do |story| %>
@@ -8,11 +8,11 @@
 <% end %>
 <% @stories.each_with_index do |story, i| %>
   <%= render "articles/single_story", story: story %>
-  <% if i == 0 && @comments.any? %>
+  <% if i == 0 && @comments.present? %>
     <%= render "users/comments_section" %>
   <% end %>
 <% end %>
-<% if !@stories.any? && @comments.any? %>
+<% if @stories.none? && @comments.present? %>
   <%= render "users/comments_section" %>
 <% end %>
 <% if @stories.size > 1 %>
diff --git a/app/views/users/_organizations_area.html.erb b/app/views/users/_organizations_area.html.erb
index 30e84ce18..4db73a075 100755
--- a/app/views/users/_organizations_area.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/users/_organizations_area.html.erb
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
+<%# it's highly unlikely a single use will belong to so many organizations to slow down
+    this fetch, thus we can safely use the .present?/.each pattern to load them %>
 <% if @user.organizations.present? %>
   <div id="sidebar-organizations" class="widget">
     <div class="widget-suggested-follows-container">
       <header><h4>organizations</h4></header>
       <div class="widget-body">
-        <% @user.organizations.find_each do |organization| %>
+        <% @user.organizations.each do |organization| %>
           <div class="widget-user-pic">
             <a href="/<%= organization.slug %>">
               <img src="<%= ProfileImage.new(organization).get(90) %>" alt="<%= organization.name %> profile image">