diff --git a/services/api/src/integrationTest/kotlin/net/blueshell/api/user/web/UserControllerIT.kt b/services/api/src/integrationTest/kotlin/net/blueshell/api/user/web/UserControllerIT.kt
index 73b5e89b7..a4fcf76f7 100644
--- a/services/api/src/integrationTest/kotlin/net/blueshell/api/user/web/UserControllerIT.kt
+++ b/services/api/src/integrationTest/kotlin/net/blueshell/api/user/web/UserControllerIT.kt
@@ -245,6 +245,38 @@ class UserControllerIT : UserTestSupport() {
                 .andExpect(jsonPath("$.content").isArray)
         }
 
+        @Test
+        fun `a size without a page is a size, not a suggestion`() {
+            val board = createUserWithRole(Role.BOARD)
+            repeat(3) { createUserWithRole(Role.MEMBER) }
+
+            mvc.perform(get("/users").param("size", "1").with(bearer(board)))
+                .andExpect(status().isOk)
+                .andExpect(jsonPath("$.content.length()").value(1))
+                .andExpect(jsonPath("$.page.size").value(1))
+        }
+
+        @Test
+        fun `a page without a size is paged at the default rather than not at all`() {
+            val board = createUserWithRole(Role.BOARD)
+            repeat(3) { createUserWithRole(Role.MEMBER) }
+
+            mvc.perform(get("/users").param("page", "0").with(bearer(board)))
+                .andExpect(status().isOk)
+                .andExpect(jsonPath("$.page.size").value(20))
+        }
+
+        @Test
+        fun `naming no paging at all still answers with everybody`() {
+            val board = createUserWithRole(Role.BOARD)
+            repeat(3) { createUserWithRole(Role.MEMBER) }
+
+            mvc.perform(get("/users").with(bearer(board)))
+                .andExpect(status().isOk)
+                .andExpect(jsonPath("$.content.length()").value(4))
+                .andExpect(jsonPath("$.page.size").value(4))
+        }
+
         @Test
         fun `a search finds the user it names rather than the page they fall on`() {
             val board = createUserWithRole(Role.BOARD)
diff --git a/services/api/src/main/kotlin/net/blueshell/api/platform/config/PagingConfig.kt b/services/api/src/main/kotlin/net/blueshell/api/platform/config/PagingConfig.kt
index aaa67c4e3..9750974e9 100644
--- a/services/api/src/main/kotlin/net/blueshell/api/platform/config/PagingConfig.kt
+++ b/services/api/src/main/kotlin/net/blueshell/api/platform/config/PagingConfig.kt
@@ -1,20 +1,43 @@
 package net.blueshell.api.platform.config
 
-import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration
+import org.springframework.core.MethodParameter
+import org.springframework.core.Ordered
+import org.springframework.core.annotation.Order
 import org.springframework.data.domain.Pageable
 import org.springframework.data.web.PageableHandlerMethodArgumentResolver
-import org.springframework.data.web.config.PageableHandlerMethodArgumentResolverCustomizer
+import org.springframework.web.method.support.HandlerMethodArgumentResolver
+import org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.WebMvcConfigurer
 
+/**
+ * A listing answers unpaged when nobody asked for a page, and answers the page anybody did ask
+ * for, whichever half of it they named.
+ *
+ * Spring's resolver reads a fallback when the request does not carry **both** `page` and `size`,
+ * and this api's fallback is unpaged — so `?size=500` was answered with the whole table. A caller
+ * naming a size is one that cannot hold an unbounded answer, and it was handed exactly that,
+ * silently. See #1145.
+ */
 @Configuration
-internal class PagingConfig {
-    @Bean
-    fun unpagedByDefault(): PageableHandlerMethodArgumentResolverCustomizer {
-        return PageableHandlerMethodArgumentResolverCustomizer { resolver: PageableHandlerMethodArgumentResolver? ->
-            resolver!!.setFallbackPageable(
+@Order(Ordered.HIGHEST_PRECEDENCE)
+internal class PagingConfig : WebMvcConfigurer {
+
+    override fun addArgumentResolvers(resolvers: MutableList<HandlerMethodArgumentResolver>) {
+        resolvers.add(EitherHalfMeansPaged())
+    }
+
+    private class EitherHalfMeansPaged : PageableHandlerMethodArgumentResolver() {
+        override fun getPageable(parameter: MethodParameter, pageString: String?, sizeString: String?): Pageable =
+            if (pageString == null && sizeString == null) {
                 Pageable.unpaged()
-            )
-        }
+            } else {
+                // The half that was named decides; the other takes the value the api documents.
+                super.getPageable(parameter, pageString ?: "0", sizeString ?: DEFAULT_PAGE_SIZE.toString())
+            }
     }
-}
 
+    private companion object {
+        /** What the OpenAPI document says `size` defaults to, so the spec and the api agree. */
+        const val DEFAULT_PAGE_SIZE = 20
+    }
+}
diff --git a/services/frontend/src/components/form/fields/UserPicker.vue b/services/frontend/src/components/form/fields/UserPicker.vue
index ca283a6fd..70ddd056f 100644
--- a/services/frontend/src/components/form/fields/UserPicker.vue
+++ b/services/frontend/src/components/form/fields/UserPicker.vue
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ async function loadUsers() {
   if (loaded.value || loading.value) return
   loading.value = true
   try {
-    const resp = await findUsers({ query: { size: 500 } })
+    // No size: this picker filters what it holds, so it wants the whole listing. The 500 it used
+    // to name never bounded anything — the answer was everybody regardless (#1145).
+    const resp = await findUsers({})
     const content = resp.data?.content ?? []
     items.value = content.slice().sort((a, b) => {
       const left = a.fullName ?? a.email ?? ""
diff --git a/services/frontend/src/domains/user/adapters/users.ts b/services/frontend/src/domains/user/adapters/users.ts
index 9abbc3426..a99f5daf0 100644
--- a/services/frontend/src/domains/user/adapters/users.ts
+++ b/services/frontend/src/domains/user/adapters/users.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ export interface MemberAccount {
  * emptiness, a refused request tells a board member that nobody here has an account.
  */
 export async function loadMemberAccounts(): Promise<MemberAccount[] | null> {
-  const res = await findUsers({query: {size: 500}})
+  // No size: this wants the whole listing, and a size that named a bound never gave one — it
+  // was answered with everybody anyway (#1145). Saying so beats a number that did nothing.
+  const res = await findUsers({})
   if (res.error || !res.data?.content) return null
   return res.data.content
     .filter(user => user.id != null)
diff --git a/services/frontend/tests/unit/domains/user/adapters/users.test.ts b/services/frontend/tests/unit/domains/user/adapters/users.test.ts
index 716e5739a..34be2e2d1 100644
--- a/services/frontend/tests/unit/domains/user/adapters/users.test.ts
+++ b/services/frontend/tests/unit/domains/user/adapters/users.test.ts
@@ -10,12 +10,12 @@ vi.mock("@/services/api", async (importOriginal) => ({
 const page = (content: unknown[]) => ({data: {content}}) as never
 
 describe("loadMemberAccounts", () => {
-  it("asks for one page big enough to filter where it is used", async () => {
+  it("asks for the whole listing rather than a page whose size it would have to guess", async () => {
     vi.mocked(findUsers).mockResolvedValue(page([]))
 
     await loadMemberAccounts()
 
-    expect(findUsers).toHaveBeenCalledWith({query: {size: 500}})
+    expect(findUsers).toHaveBeenCalledWith({})
   })
 
   it("names an account by the full name on it", async () => {