diff --git a/client/src/modules/TeamForumPanel.jsx b/client/src/modules/TeamForumPanel.jsx
index d961654..a823bdb 100644
--- a/client/src/modules/TeamForumPanel.jsx
+++ b/client/src/modules/TeamForumPanel.jsx
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from 'react'
 import { useSearchParams } from 'react-router-dom'
+import DOMPurify from 'dompurify'
 import { api } from '../api/client.js'
 import { useAuth } from '../contexts/AuthContext.jsx'
 import { useSite } from '../contexts/SiteContext.jsx'
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ export default function TeamForumPanel({ externalId, moduleId }) {
           Announcements
         </h2>
         {forum.canPost && !composing && (
-          <button type="button" className="btn-ghost sans" onClick={() => setComposing(true)}>
+          <button type="button" className="pill" onClick={() => setComposing(true)}>
             Post an announcement
           </button>
         )}
@@ -225,7 +226,7 @@ function GuestManager({ slug }) {
 
   if (!open) {
     return (
-      <button type="button" className="btn-ghost sans" onClick={() => setOpen(true)} style={{ marginTop: 10 }}>
+      <button type="button" className="pill" onClick={() => setOpen(true)} style={{ marginTop: 10 }}>
         Forum guests
       </button>
     )
@@ -235,7 +236,7 @@ function GuestManager({ slug }) {
     <section style={{ marginTop: 12, padding: 12, border: '1px solid var(--rule, #ccc)', borderRadius: 6 }}>
       <header style={{ display: 'flex', justifyContent: 'space-between', alignItems: 'baseline' }}>
         <h3 className="sans" style={{ margin: 0, fontSize: '0.95rem' }}>Forum guests</h3>
-        <button type="button" className="btn-ghost sans" onClick={() => setOpen(false)}>Close</button>
+        <button type="button" className="pill" onClick={() => setOpen(false)}>Close</button>
       </header>
       <p className="sans dim" style={{ fontSize: '0.8rem', margin: '6px 0 10px' }}>
         Guests read and post in this forum without being members of the Team. They do not appear on the
@@ -247,7 +248,7 @@ function GuestManager({ slug }) {
         {(data?.guests || []).map((g) => (
           <li key={g.userId} className="sans" style={{ fontSize: '0.88rem', display: 'flex', gap: 8 }}>
             <span>{g.username}</span>
-            <button type="button" className="btn-ghost sans" onClick={() => revoke(g.userId)}>Remove</button>
+            <button type="button" className="pill" onClick={() => revoke(g.userId)}>Remove</button>
           </li>
         ))}
         {data && data.guests.length === 0 && (
@@ -257,14 +258,14 @@ function GuestManager({ slug }) {
 
       <form onSubmit={add} style={{ display: 'flex', gap: 8 }}>
         <input
-          className="sans"
+          className="input"
           value={username}
           onChange={(e) => setUsername(e.target.value)}
           placeholder="Account name"
           maxLength={32}
           required
         />
-        <button type="submit" className="btn sans">Add</button>
+        <button type="submit" className="btn btn-primary btn-sq">Add</button>
       </form>
       {error && <p className="sans" style={{ color: 'var(--danger, crimson)', fontSize: '0.85rem' }}>{error}</p>}
     </section>
@@ -274,7 +275,7 @@ function GuestManager({ slug }) {
 function ThreadView({ thread, canModerate, onBack, onModerate }) {
   return (
     <section style={{ marginTop: 26 }}>
-      <button type="button" className="btn-ghost sans" onClick={onBack} style={{ marginBottom: 10 }}>
+      <button type="button" className="pill" onClick={onBack} style={{ marginBottom: 10 }}>
         ← All announcements
       </button>
       <h2 className="display" style={{ fontSize: '1.15rem', color: 'var(--head)', margin: '0 0 4px' }}>
@@ -288,24 +289,33 @@ function ThreadView({ thread, canModerate, onBack, onModerate }) {
       {thread.posts.map((post) => (
         <article key={post.id} style={{ marginBottom: 16 }}>
           {/*
-            Rendered server-side under the operator's image policy, which is why
-            this is dangerouslySetInnerHTML and not a sanitizer call here. The body
-            was sanitised on write with the forum's own profile — one in which
-            `img` is never allowed — and any <img> in it was emitted by core's own
-            renderer with a fixed attribute set. A client-side sanitiser would have
-            to strip exactly the tag core just decided to add.
+            Sanitised on write with the forum's own profile, rendered server-side
+            under the operator's image policy, and re-sanitised here — the same
+            defence-in-depth every other body-HTML surface on this site applies
+            (FiveOnFriday, NewsletterIssue, the rich-text block).
+
+            `ADD_ATTR: ['referrerpolicy']` is load-bearing and not a preference.
+            DOMPurify's default allowlist carries `loading` but NOT
+            `referrerpolicy`, so a plain sanitize() call silently strips the one
+            attribute that limits what a remote embed leaks to the host serving it
+            — the privacy property the admin help text promises an operator. The
+            <img> itself is core's own output with a fixed attribute set, so
+            nothing here is widening what an author can write.
           */}
           {/* eslint-disable-next-line react/no-danger */}
-          <div className="serif" dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: post.body }} />
+          <div
+            className="prose"
+            dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: DOMPurify.sanitize(post.body || '', { ADD_ATTR: ['referrerpolicy'] }) }}
+          />
         </article>
       ))}
 
       {canModerate && (
         <div style={{ display: 'flex', gap: 8, marginTop: 12 }}>
-          <button type="button" className="btn-ghost sans" onClick={() => onModerate(thread.pinned ? 'unpin' : 'pin')}>
+          <button type="button" className="pill" onClick={() => onModerate(thread.pinned ? 'unpin' : 'pin')}>
             {thread.pinned ? 'Unpin' : 'Pin'}
           </button>
-          <button type="button" className="btn-ghost sans" onClick={() => onModerate(thread.status === 'hidden' ? 'unhide' : 'hide')}>
+          <button type="button" className="pill" onClick={() => onModerate(thread.status === 'hidden' ? 'unhide' : 'hide')}>
             {thread.status === 'hidden' ? 'Unhide' : 'Hide'}
           </button>
         </div>
@@ -352,7 +362,7 @@ function Composer({ slug, imageMode, onCancel, onPosted }) {
   return (
     <form onSubmit={submit} style={{ display: 'grid', gap: 8, marginTop: 12 }}>
       <input
-        className="sans"
+        className="input"
         value={title}
         onChange={(e) => setTitle(e.target.value)}
         placeholder="Title"
@@ -360,7 +370,7 @@ function Composer({ slug, imageMode, onCancel, onPosted }) {
         required
       />
       <textarea
-        className="sans"
+        className="textarea"
         value={body}
         onChange={(e) => setBody(e.target.value)}
         placeholder="Write your announcement. Paste an image URL on its own line to share a picture."
@@ -374,8 +384,8 @@ function Composer({ slug, imageMode, onCancel, onPosted }) {
       )}
       {error && <p className="sans" style={{ color: 'var(--danger, crimson)', fontSize: '0.85rem' }}>{error}</p>}
       <div style={{ display: 'flex', gap: 8 }}>
-        <button type="submit" className="btn sans" disabled={busy}>Post</button>
-        <button type="button" className="btn-ghost sans" onClick={onCancel}>Cancel</button>
+        <button type="submit" className="btn btn-primary btn-sq" disabled={busy}>Post</button>
+        <button type="button" className="pill" onClick={onCancel}>Cancel</button>
       </div>
     </form>
   )
diff --git a/client/src/styles/theme.css b/client/src/styles/theme.css
index dd24ae3..62c4cf3 100644
--- a/client/src/styles/theme.css
+++ b/client/src/styles/theme.css
@@ -298,6 +298,18 @@ button[disabled] {
 }
 
 /* ===== Rich prose (wiki / newsletter body) ===== */
+.forum-embed {
+  /* The image a Team-forum post's URL renders as, in `remote`/`uploads` mode.
+     Emitted by the server (utils/forumHtml.js), never by an author — which is
+     what makes the operator's image policy enforceable. Block, so it sits
+     beneath its link rather than beside it; capped, because a remote image is
+     whatever size its host decided and one post must not blow out the column. */
+  display: block;
+  margin-top: 8px;
+  max-width: 100%;
+  height: auto;
+  border-radius: var(--radius-input);
+}
 .prose {
   color: var(--text);
   font-size: 1.06rem;
diff --git a/server/src/model/teams/teamForumSettings.model.js b/server/src/model/teams/teamForumSettings.model.js
index b3d69dc..044c183 100644
--- a/server/src/model/teams/teamForumSettings.model.js
+++ b/server/src/model/teams/teamForumSettings.model.js
@@ -91,16 +91,33 @@ async function ackState() {
  * Returns `{ ok }` or `{ ok: false, error, status }`, matching the model result
  * shape the Teams controllers already translate.
  */
-function assertAcknowledged(nextMode, acknowledge) {
+async function assertAcknowledged(nextMode, acknowledge) {
   if (nextMode !== 'uploads') return { ok: true }
-  if (String(acknowledge ?? '') !== ACK_VERSION) {
-    return {
-      ok: false,
-      status: 400,
-      error: `Enabling uploads requires acknowledging the current notice (version ${ACK_VERSION}).`,
-    }
+  if (String(acknowledge ?? '') === ACK_VERSION) return { ok: true }
+
+  // **The gate is on SELECTING uploads, not on the value being present.**
+  //
+  // A settings form sends every field it owns, so once uploads is on, every later
+  // save re-sends `uploads` — turning the forum off, switching back to `remote`,
+  // any of it. Demanding a fresh acknowledgement for those would make the mode a
+  // one-way door: the operator could never change a forum setting again, and the
+  // one thing they would most want to do in a hurry (switch the forum off) would
+  // be the thing refused. Found on the live rig, where unticking "Enable Team
+  // forums" came back 400.
+  //
+  // So an acknowledgement already ON RECORD, for the version in force, while
+  // uploads is ALREADY the stored mode, is what this request needs — there is no
+  // new consent to take. A transition INTO uploads still needs the checkbox, and
+  // a stale acknowledgement is caught by assertSettingsWritable, which is the
+  // separate rule for a reworded notice.
+  const [state, current] = await Promise.all([ackState(), imageMode()])
+  if (current === 'uploads' && state.given && !state.stale) return { ok: true }
+
+  return {
+    ok: false,
+    status: 400,
+    error: `Enabling uploads requires acknowledging the current notice (version ${ACK_VERSION}).`,
   }
-  return { ok: true }
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/server/src/router/v1/admin/admin.controller.js b/server/src/router/v1/admin/admin.controller.js
index 4c6602e..cec162f 100644
--- a/server/src/router/v1/admin/admin.controller.js
+++ b/server/src/router/v1/admin/admin.controller.js
@@ -609,7 +609,7 @@ async function updateSettings(req, res) {
     }
     // THE GATE (§5.5.5). Server-side, and rejected 400 with the admin UI's
     // checkbox bypassed — a checkbox is how the gate is presented, never the gate.
-    const gate = forumSettings.assertAcknowledged(nextImageMode, req.body.acknowledge)
+    const gate = await forumSettings.assertAcknowledged(nextImageMode, req.body.acknowledge)
     if (!gate.ok) return res.status(gate.status).json({ message: gate.error })
   }
   {
diff --git a/server/src/utils/forumHtml.js b/server/src/utils/forumHtml.js
index d6e0b4c..9047d7d 100644
--- a/server/src/utils/forumHtml.js
+++ b/server/src/utils/forumHtml.js
@@ -82,7 +82,19 @@ const IMAGE_EXTENSIONS = ['.png', '.jpg', '.jpeg', '.gif', '.webp', '.avif']
 // being shown, not offered.
 const NO_LINKIFY = new Set(['a', 'code', 'pre'])
 
-const BARE_URL = /\bhttps?:\/\/[^\s<>"']+/g
+// Absolute http(s) URLs, and root-relative `/uploads/…` paths.
+//
+// The second alternative is not a nicety. In `uploads` mode the composer hands
+// the author a path like `/uploads/1787…-ab12.png`, puts it in the body as TEXT
+// (the author never writes markup — that is the whole design), and the renderer
+// only ever rewrites ANCHORS. Without this branch the write path cannot produce
+// the anchor the read path looks for, so an uploaded image could never become a
+// picture — even though `isEmbeddableImageUrl` was written to accept exactly
+// these paths. The two halves disagreed, and only a real upload showed it.
+//
+// Deliberately narrow: `/uploads/` and nothing else, so ordinary prose that
+// happens to contain a slash is left alone.
+const BARE_URL = /\bhttps?:\/\/[^\s<>"']+|(?:^|(?<=[\s(]))\/uploads\/[A-Za-z0-9._~-]+(?:\/[A-Za-z0-9._~-]+)*/g
 
 /**
  * Sanitise a forum post body. Runs on WRITE; the stored value is already safe and
@@ -180,7 +192,15 @@ function renderForumBody(storedHtml, mode) {
     // A fixed attribute set, every time. `no-referrer` limits what leaks to the
     // third-party host — it cannot prevent the request itself, which is the
     // privacy cost stated in the admin help text rather than hidden.
-    return `${anchor}<img src="${href}" loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="no-referrer" alt="">`
+    //
+    // `class` rather than an inline style, for two things the live rig showed:
+    // the embed has to sit BENEATH the link (§5.5.3) and an <img> is inline, so
+    // without it the picture lands beside the URL; and a remote image is any size
+    // its host chooses, so it needs a max-width or one post can blow the column
+    // out. Both live in core's stylesheet (`.forum-embed`) because a style
+    // attribute would then have to survive the client's DOMPurify pass, and its
+    // CSS sanitiser is a larger thing to reason about than one class name.
+    return `${anchor}<img class="forum-embed" src="${href}" loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="no-referrer" alt="">`
   })
 }
 
diff --git a/server/test/teamForum.test.js b/server/test/teamForum.test.js
index fea740d..da8914f 100644
--- a/server/test/teamForum.test.js
+++ b/server/test/teamForum.test.js
@@ -67,23 +67,45 @@ test('an unexpected stored image mode reads as disabled rather than as itself',
 
 // ── the acknowledgement gate (§5.5.5) ──────────────────────────────────────
 
-test('acceptance 4: uploads mode is rejected without a matching acknowledgement', () => {
+test('acceptance 4: uploads mode is rejected without a matching acknowledgement', async () => {
   // Server-side, with the admin UI's checkbox bypassed — a checkbox is how the
-  // gate is presented and never the gate.
-  const refused = forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('uploads', undefined)
+  // gate is presented and never the gate. Nothing is on record and the stored
+  // mode is not uploads, so this is a genuine transition INTO it.
+  const refused = await forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('uploads', undefined)
   assert.equal(refused.ok, false)
   assert.equal(refused.status, 400)
 
   // A STALE version is not an acknowledgement either.
-  assert.equal(forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('uploads', '0').ok, false)
-  assert.equal(forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('uploads', forumSettings.ACK_VERSION).ok, true)
+  assert.equal((await forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('uploads', '0')).ok, false)
+  assert.equal((await forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('uploads', forumSettings.ACK_VERSION)).ok, true)
 })
 
-test('the other two image modes need no acknowledgement', () => {
+test('the other two image modes need no acknowledgement', async () => {
   // `remote` gets a non-blocking advisory instead: nothing comes to rest on the
   // operator's disk, which is the thing the acknowledgement is about.
-  assert.equal(forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('remote', undefined).ok, true)
-  assert.equal(forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('disabled', undefined).ok, true)
+  assert.equal((await forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('remote', undefined)).ok, true)
+  assert.equal((await forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('disabled', undefined)).ok, true)
+})
+
+test('uploads is not a one-way door — a later save needs no fresh acknowledgement', async () => {
+  // Found on the live rig. A settings form sends every field it owns, so with
+  // uploads on, unticking "Enable Team forums" re-sends `uploads` and came back
+  // 400 — the operator could never change a forum setting again, least of all the
+  // one they would reach for in a hurry.
+  store.teams_forum_images = 'uploads'
+  store.teams_forum_uploads_ack = forumSettings.ACK_VERSION
+
+  assert.equal((await forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('uploads', undefined)).ok, true)
+
+  // Still a gate where consent is genuinely absent: a stale acknowledgement means
+  // the wording moved, and that DOES need re-consent.
+  store.teams_forum_uploads_ack = '0'
+  assert.equal((await forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('uploads', undefined)).ok, false)
+
+  // And a transition INTO uploads from another mode still asks.
+  store.teams_forum_images = 'remote'
+  store.teams_forum_uploads_ack = forumSettings.ACK_VERSION
+  assert.equal((await forumSettings.assertAcknowledged('uploads', undefined)).ok, false)
 })
 
 test('a reworded notice freezes forum settings but does NOT disable uploads', async () => {
@@ -127,9 +149,12 @@ test('acceptance 3: the stored HTML is identical in every image mode', () => {
   const remote = renderForumBody(stored, 'remote')
 
   assert.equal(disabled, stored)                       // byte-for-byte
-  assert.match(remote, /<img src="https:\/\/example\.com\/banner\.png"/)
+  assert.match(remote, /<img [^>]*src="https:\/\/example\.com\/banner\.png"/)
   assert.match(remote, /loading="lazy"/)
   assert.match(remote, /referrerpolicy="no-referrer"/)
+  // Carries core's own class, which is what puts the picture BENEATH its link
+  // (an <img> is inline) and caps it to the column. Found on the live rig.
+  assert.match(remote, /class="forum-embed"/)
   // The link survives in both. A blocked or dead image degrades to the URL the
   // author actually wrote.
   assert.ok(remote.includes('<a href="https://example.com/banner.png"'))
@@ -159,6 +184,23 @@ test('http URLs and non-image URLs stay plain links', () => {
   assert.ok(!notAnImage.includes('<img'))
 })
 
+test('an UPLOADED image becomes a picture — the composer’s own path', () => {
+  // Found on the live rig, not by any unit test here. `uploads` mode hands the
+  // composer a root-relative path, the composer puts it in the body as TEXT, and
+  // the renderer only rewrites ANCHORS — so the write path has to produce one, or
+  // an uploaded image can never render. isEmbeddableImageUrl accepted these paths
+  // from day one; nothing made an anchor out of them.
+  const stored = cleanForumBody('<p>/uploads/1787-abc.png</p>')
+  assert.match(stored, /<a href="\/uploads\/1787-abc\.png"/)
+  assert.match(renderForumBody(stored, 'uploads'), /<img [^>]*src="\/uploads\/1787-abc\.png"/)
+  assert.equal(renderForumBody(stored, 'disabled'), stored)
+})
+
+test('ordinary prose containing a slash is not turned into a link', () => {
+  // The upload branch is deliberately narrow — `/uploads/` and nothing else.
+  assert.ok(!cleanForumBody('<p>meet at /the docks tonight</p>').includes('<a href'))
+})
+
 test('a URL inside code or pre is shown, not offered', () => {
   const stored = cleanForumBody('<pre>https://example.com/a.png</pre>')
   assert.ok(!stored.includes('<a href'))