diff --git a/app/models/person.rb b/app/models/person.rb
index f32055834b..fd22f9d76d 100644
--- a/app/models/person.rb
+++ b/app/models/person.rb
@@ -253,10 +253,18 @@ def completed_solves_count
     results.pluck("value1, value2, value3, value4, value5").flatten.count { |value| value > 0 }
   end
 
+  def competition_count
+    competitions.count
+  end
+
   def gender_visible?
     %w(m f).include? gender
   end
 
+  def visible_gender
+    gender_visible? ? gender : nil
+  end
+
   def self.search(query, params: {})
     persons = Person.current.includes(:user)
     query.split.each do |part|
@@ -317,11 +325,16 @@ def serializable_hash(options = nil)
     # Passing down options from Person to User (which are completely different models in the DB!)
     #   is a horrible idea. Unfortunately, our external APIs have come to rely on it,
     #   so we need to hack around it.
+    # First, we check whether the developer specifically gave instructions about which `user` properties they want.
+    hash_include_specified = options&.dig(:include).is_a? Hash
+    user_pass_down_options = hash_include_specified ? options&.dig(:include, :user) : options
+    # Second, we need to apply some crazy merging logic:
     #   - `merge_union` makes sure that only values specified in USER_COMMON_SERIALIZE_OPTIONS kick in
     #   - `filter` makes sure that when the result of `merge_union` are empty, the defaults from
     #       User::DEFAULT_SERIALIZE_OPTIONS can override.
-    user_override_options = USER_COMMON_SERIALIZE_OPTIONS.merge_union(options&.stringify_keys)
-                                                         .filter { |_, v| v.present? }
+    #     However, if the developer explicitly specified that the `user` include should be empty, then respect that.
+    user_override_options = USER_COMMON_SERIALIZE_OPTIONS.merge_serialization_opts(user_pass_down_options&.with_indifferent_access)
+                                                         .filter { |_, v| hash_include_specified || v.present? }
 
     # If there's a user for this Person, merge in all their data,
     # the Person's data takes priority, though.
diff --git a/config/initializers/monkey_patches.rb b/config/initializers/monkey_patches.rb
index 003ccbe9ab..416ddf2cc2 100644
--- a/config/initializers/monkey_patches.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/monkey_patches.rb
@@ -52,9 +52,16 @@ def xss_aware_join(delimiter = '')
   end
 
   Hash.class_eval do
-    def merge_union(other = nil)
+    def merge_serialization_opts(other = nil)
       self.to_h do |key, value|
-        [key, value & (other&.fetch(key.to_s, []) || [])]
+        # Try to read `key` from the other hash, fall back to empty array.
+        other_value = (other&.fetch(key.to_s, []) || [])
+
+        # Merge arrays together, making sure to respect the difference between symbols and strings.
+        merged_value = value.map(&:to_sym) & other_value.map(&:to_sym)
+
+        # Return the merged result associated with the original key
+        [key, value & merged_value]
       end
     end
   end