diff --git a/app/Models/Category.php b/app/Models/Category.php
index 8e32a107c..ac8934ea1 100644
--- a/app/Models/Category.php
+++ b/app/Models/Category.php
@@ -35,4 +35,9 @@ class Category extends Model
     {
         return $this->hasMany(static::class, 'parentid');
     }
+
+    public function userExcludedCategory()
+    {
+        return $this->belongsTo('App\Models\UserExcludedCategory', 'categories_id');
+    }
 }
diff --git a/app/Models/User.php b/app/Models/User.php
index 54dc10c1f..e28b6f3d8 100644
--- a/app/Models/User.php
+++ b/app/Models/User.php
@@ -22,20 +22,7 @@ class User extends Authenticatable
     /**
      * @var array
      */
-    protected $fillable = [
-        'username',
-        'password',
-        'email',
-        'user_roles_id',
-        'created_at',
-        'updated_at',
-        'host',
-        'rsstoken',
-        'invites',
-        'invitedby',
-        'userseed',
-        'notes',
-    ];
+    protected $guarded = [];
 
     /**
      * @var array
@@ -71,4 +58,9 @@ class User extends Authenticatable
     {
         return $this->hasMany('App\Models\DnzbFailure', 'users_id');
     }
+
+    public function excludedCategory()
+    {
+        return $this->hasMany('App\Models\UserExcludedCategory', 'users_id');
+    }
 }
diff --git a/app/Models/UserExcludedCategory.php b/app/Models/UserExcludedCategory.php
index af32b641b..be559616f 100644
--- a/app/Models/UserExcludedCategory.php
+++ b/app/Models/UserExcludedCategory.php
@@ -6,5 +6,17 @@ use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
 
 class UserExcludedCategory extends Model
 {
-    //
+    protected $dateFormat = false;
+
+    protected $guarded = [];
+
+    public function user()
+    {
+        return $this->belongsTo('App\Models\User', 'users_id');
+    }
+
+    public function category()
+    {
+        return $this->hasMany('App\Models\Category', 'categories_id');
+    }
 }
diff --git a/nntmux/Users.php b/nntmux/Users.php
index c4ff0e2fd..9e6482182 100755
--- a/nntmux/Users.php
+++ b/nntmux/Users.php
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 namespace nntmux;
 
+use App\Models\UserExcludedCategory;
 use nntmux\db\DB;
 use Carbon\Carbon;
 use App\Models\User;
@@ -171,7 +172,7 @@ class Users
      */
     public function delUserCategoryExclusions($uid): void
     {
-        $this->pdo->queryExec(sprintf('DELETE FROM user_excluded_categories WHERE users_id = %d', $uid));
+        UserExcludedCategory::query()->where('users_id', $uid)->delete();
     }
 
     /**
@@ -987,7 +988,7 @@ class Users
         $this->delUserCategoryExclusions($uid);
         if (count($catids) > 0) {
             foreach ($catids as $catid) {
-                $this->pdo->queryInsert(sprintf('INSERT INTO user_excluded_categories (users_id, categories_id, created_at) VALUES (%d, %d, now())', $uid, $catid));
+                UserExcludedCategory::query()->insertGetId(['users_id' => $uid, 'categories_id' => $catid, 'created_at' => Carbon::now()]);
             }
         }
     }
@@ -1000,7 +1001,7 @@ class Users
     public function getRoleCategoryExclusion($role): array
     {
         $ret = [];
-        $categories = $this->pdo->query(sprintf('SELECT categories_id FROM role_excluded_categories WHERE role = %d', $role));
+        $categories = UserExcludedCategory::query()->where('role', $role)->get(['categories_id']);
         foreach ($categories as $category) {
             $ret[] = $category['categories_id'];
         }
@@ -1076,7 +1077,7 @@ class Users
      */
     public function delCategoryExclusion($uid, $catid): void
     {
-        $this->pdo->queryExec(sprintf('DELETE FROM user_excluded_categories WHERE users_id = %d AND categories_id = %d', $uid, $catid));
+        UserExcludedCategory::query()->where(['users_id'=> $uid, 'categories_id' => $catid])->delete();
     }
 
     /**