diff --git a/Hash2Pub.cabal b/Hash2Pub.cabal
index 5e8d25d..f7a1676 100644
--- a/Hash2Pub.cabal
+++ b/Hash2Pub.cabal
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ extra-source-files:  CHANGELOG.md
 
 common deps
   build-depends:       base ^>=4.12.0.0, containers ^>=0.6.0.1, bytestring, utf8-string ^>=1.0.1.1, network ^>=2.8.0.1, time ^>=1.8.0.2, cmdargs ^>= 0.10, cryptonite ^>= 0.25, memory, async, stm, asn1-encoding, asn1-types, asn1-parse, publicsuffix, network-byte-order, safe, iproute, mtl, random, servant, servant-server, servant-client, warp, text, unordered-containers, hashable, unicode-transforms, http-client, http-types, unbounded-delays, dlist
-  ghc-options:         -Wall -Wpartial-fields -O2
+  ghc-options:         -Wall -Wpartial-fields
 
 
 
diff --git a/src/Hash2Pub/PostService.hs b/src/Hash2Pub/PostService.hs
index d84b58b..7a082d0 100644
--- a/src/Hash2Pub/PostService.hs
+++ b/src/Hash2Pub/PostService.hs
@@ -559,9 +559,9 @@ lookupTagSubscriptions :: Hashtag -> RingMap NodeID a -> Maybe a
 lookupTagSubscriptions tag = rMapLookup (hashtagToId tag)
 
 
--- normalise the unicode representation of a string to NFC
+-- normalise the unicode representation of a string to NFC and convert to lower case
 normaliseTag :: Text -> Text
-normaliseTag = Txt.fromStrict . normalize NFC . Txt.toStrict
+normaliseTag = Txt.toLower . Txt.fromStrict . normalize NFC . Txt.toStrict
 
 
 -- | convert a hashtag to its representation on the DHT