diff --git a/api/resolvers/user.js b/api/resolvers/user.js
index 45cb14e42b..3e2664de70 100644
--- a/api/resolvers/user.js
+++ b/api/resolvers/user.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import { readFile } from 'fs/promises'
+import { join, resolve } from 'path'
 import { GraphQLError } from 'graphql'
 import { decodeCursor, LIMIT, nextCursorEncoded } from '../../lib/cursor'
 import { msatsToSats } from '../../lib/format'
@@ -5,6 +7,20 @@ import { bioSchema, emailSchema, settingsSchema, ssValidate, userSchema } from '
 import { getItem, updateItem, filterClause, createItem } from './item'
 import { datePivot } from '../../lib/time'
 
+const contributors = new Set()
+
+const loadContributors = async (set) => {
+  try {
+    const fileContent = await readFile(resolve(join(process.cwd(), 'contributors.txt')), 'utf-8')
+    fileContent.split('\n')
+      .map(line => line.trim())
+      .filter(line => !!line)
+      .forEach(name => set.add(name))
+  } catch (err) {
+    console.error('Error loading contributors', err)
+  }
+}
+
 export function within (table, within) {
   let interval = ' AND "' + table + '".created_at >= $1 - INTERVAL '
   switch (within) {
@@ -771,10 +787,14 @@ export default {
       return !!subscription
     },
     isContributor: async (user, args, { me }) => {
+      // lazy init contributors only once
+      if (contributors.size === 0) {
+        await loadContributors(contributors)
+      }
       if (me?.id === user.id) {
-        return user.isContributor
+        return contributors.has(user.name)
       }
-      return !user.hideIsContributor && user.isContributor
+      return !user.hideIsContributor && contributors.has(user.name)
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/contributors.txt b/contributors.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5f59b5215f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contributors.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+k00b
+kr
+ekzyis
+WeAreAllSatoshi
diff --git a/prisma/migrations/20230906010648_verified_contributors/migration.sql b/prisma/migrations/20230906010648_verified_contributors/migration.sql
index 82c979ae42..3ce4fb00a3 100644
--- a/prisma/migrations/20230906010648_verified_contributors/migration.sql
+++ b/prisma/migrations/20230906010648_verified_contributors/migration.sql
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
 -- AlterTable
-ALTER TABLE "users" ADD COLUMN     "hideIsContributor" BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT false,
-ADD COLUMN     "isContributor" BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT false;
+ALTER TABLE "users" ADD COLUMN     "hideIsContributor" BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT false;
diff --git a/prisma/schema.prisma b/prisma/schema.prisma
index c9f173f4a4..81a34c0e61 100644
--- a/prisma/schema.prisma
+++ b/prisma/schema.prisma
@@ -88,7 +88,6 @@ model User {
   followers           UserSubscription[]   @relation("follower")
   followees           UserSubscription[]   @relation("followee")
   hideWelcomeBanner   Boolean              @default(false)
-  isContributor       Boolean              @default(false)
   hideIsContributor   Boolean              @default(false)
 
   @@index([createdAt], map: "users.created_at_index")
diff --git a/worker/contributors.js b/worker/contributors.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 3042a9bd9d..0000000000
--- a/worker/contributors.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,57 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Instructions: Once you make a contribution to the repo, add yourself to this map,
- * where the key is your user id in stacker.news prod,
- * and the value map contains your GitHub username, and your SN nym.
- * Right now, the GitHub usernames and SN nyms are not used, but maybe we'll use them
- * in the future for a fancier UI decoration.
- */
-const contributorMap = {
-  616: {
-    github: 'huumn',
-    sn: 'k00b'
-  },
-  946: {
-    github: 'kerooke',
-    sn: 'kr'
-  },
-  6030: {
-    github: 'ekzyis',
-    sn: 'ekzyis'
-  },
-  11275: {
-    github: 'SatsAllDay',
-    sn: 'WeAreAllSatoshi'
-  }
-}
-
-/**
- * Bootstrap known contributors in the DB upon start-up
- * Only needs to run one time per deploy
- */
-function contributors ({ models }) {
-  return async function () {
-    try {
-      const { count } = await models.user.updateMany({
-        where: {
-          id: {
-            in: Object.keys(contributorMap).map(Number)
-          }
-        },
-        data: {
-          isContributor: true
-        }
-      })
-      console.log(`set ${count} users as contributors`)
-      const users = await models.user.findMany({
-        where: {
-          isContributor: true
-        }
-      })
-      console.log(`Contributors: ${users.map(user => user.name).join(', ')}`)
-    } catch (err) {
-      console.error('Error bootstrapping contributors', err)
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-module.exports = { contributors }
diff --git a/worker/index.js b/worker/index.js
index 11f44b3b2a..0c93ac8eea 100644
--- a/worker/index.js
+++ b/worker/index.js
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ const { indexItem, indexAllItems } = require('./search')
 const { timestampItem } = require('./ots')
 const { computeStreaks, checkStreak } = require('./streak')
 const { nip57 } = require('./nostr')
-const { contributors } = require('./contributors')
 
 const fetch = require('cross-fetch')
 const { authenticatedLndGrpc } = require('ln-service')
@@ -64,9 +63,6 @@ async function work () {
   await boss.work('views', views(args))
   await boss.work('rankViews', rankViews(args))
 
-  // Run once
-  await contributors(args)()
-
   console.log('working jobs')
 }