diff --git a/db/schema.sql b/db/schema.sql
index 9a38801680..cc4dbcb37b 100644
--- a/db/schema.sql
+++ b/db/schema.sql
@@ -443,18 +443,18 @@ create table forum (
     orderID                 integer         not null,
     title                   varchar(254)    not null,
     description             varchar(254)    not null,
-    timestamp               integer         not null,
+    timestamp               integer         not null default 0,
         -- time of last new or modified thread or post
-    threads                 integer         not null,
+    threads                 integer         not null default 0,
         -- number of non-hidden threads in forum
-    posts                   integer         not null,
-    rate_min_expavg_credit  integer         not null,
-    rate_min_total_credit   integer         not null,
-    post_min_interval       integer         not null,
-    post_min_expavg_credit  integer         not null,
-    post_min_total_credit   integer         not null,
+    posts                   integer         not null default 0,
+    rate_min_expavg_credit  integer         not null default 0,
+    rate_min_total_credit   integer         not null default 0,
+    post_min_interval       integer         not null default 0,
+    post_min_expavg_credit  integer         not null default 0,
+    post_min_total_credit   integer         not null default 0,
     is_dev_blog             tinyint         not null default 0,
-    parent_type             integer         not null,
+    parent_type             integer         not null default 0,
         -- entity type to which this forum is attached:
         -- 0 == category (public)
         -- 1 == team
diff --git a/html/inc/forum_db.inc b/html/inc/forum_db.inc
index 98bebb3dd4..84887630c6 100644
--- a/html/inc/forum_db.inc
+++ b/html/inc/forum_db.inc
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ class BoincForumPrefs {
         } else {
             $prefs = self::lookup_userid($user->id);
             if (!$prefs) {
-                self::insert("(userid, thread_sorting, pm_notification) values ($user->id, 8, 0)");
+                self::insert("(userid, last_post, forum_sorting, thread_sorting, rated_posts, ignorelist, pm_notification) values ($user->id, 0, 0, 8, '', '', 0)");
                 $prefs = self::lookup_userid($user->id);
                 $prefs->userid = $user->id;
                 $prefs->thread_sorting = 6;
diff --git a/html/inc/user.inc b/html/inc/user.inc
index ca5d23fa8a..b1aa02039f 100644
--- a/html/inc/user.inc
+++ b/html/inc/user.inc
@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ function make_user(
     $country = BoincDb::escape_string($country);
     $postal_code = sanitize_tags(BoincDb::escape_string($postal_code));
 
-    $uid = BoincUser::insert("(create_time, email_addr, name, authenticator, country, postal_code, total_credit, expavg_credit, expavg_time, project_prefs, teamid,  send_email, show_hosts, cross_project_id, passwd_hash) values($now, '$email_addr', '$name', '$authenticator', '$country', '$postal_code', 0, 0, unix_timestamp(), '$project_prefs', $teamid, 1, 1, '$cross_project_id', '$passwd_hash')");
+    $uid = BoincUser::insert("(create_time, email_addr, name, authenticator, country, postal_code, total_credit, expavg_credit, expavg_time, project_prefs, teamid,  venue, send_email, show_hosts, posts, seti_id, seti_nresults, seti_last_result_time, seti_total_cpu, has_profile, cross_project_id, passwd_hash, email_validated, donated) values($now, '$email_addr', '$name', '$authenticator', '$country', '$postal_code', 0, 0, unix_timestamp(), '$project_prefs', $teamid, '', 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, '$cross_project_id', '$passwd_hash', 0, 0)");
 
     if (!$uid) {
         return null;
diff --git a/html/ops/db_update.php b/html/ops/db_update.php
index 9a5ef352b3..7f12e1118f 100644
--- a/html/ops/db_update.php
+++ b/html/ops/db_update.php
@@ -975,6 +975,20 @@ function update_10_8_2014() {
     do_query("alter table user_submit_app add primary key(user_id, app_id)");
 }
 
+function update_4_15_2015() {
+    do_query("alter table forum
+        alter timestamp set default 0,
+        alter threads set default 0,
+        alter posts set default 0,
+        alter rate_min_expavg_credit set default 0,
+        alter rate_min_total_credit set default 0,
+        alter post_min_interval set default 0,
+        alter post_min_expavg_credit set default 0,
+        alter post_min_total_credit set default 0,
+        alter parent_type set default 0
+    ");
+}
+
 // Updates are done automatically if you use "upgrade".
 //
 // If you need to do updates manually,
@@ -1019,6 +1033,7 @@ $db_updates = array (
     array(27010, "update_6_5_2014"),
     array(27011, "update_8_15_2014"),
     array(27012, "update_10_8_2014"),
+    array(27013, "update_4_15_2015"),
 );
 
 ?>