diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/editor.js b/app/assets/javascripts/editor.js
index b9ca3017..93e3539b 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/editor.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/editor.js
@@ -1014,9 +1014,9 @@ $(function() {
       url: '/request_for_comments',
       data: {
         request_for_comment: {
-          requestorid: user_id,
-          exerciseid: exercise_id,
-          fileid: file_id,
+          requestor_user_id: user_id,
+          exercise_id: exercise_id,
+          file_id: file_id,
           "requested_at(1i)": 2015, // these are the timestamp values that the request handler demands
           "requested_at(2i)":3, // they could be random here, because the timestamp is updated on serverside anyway
           "requested_at(3i)":27,
diff --git a/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb b/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
index 91e31068..434aa67b 100644
--- a/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ class CommentsController < ApplicationController
     submission = Submission.find_by(id: file.context_id)
     if submission
       is_admin = false
-      if current_user.respond_to? :external_id
-        user_id = current_user.external_id
-      else
-        user_id = current_user.id
+      user_id = current_user.id
+
+      # if we have an internal user, check whether he is an admin
+      if not current_user.respond_to? :external_id
         is_admin = current_user.role == 'admin'
       end
 
@@ -37,18 +37,16 @@ class CommentsController < ApplicationController
         @comments = Comment.where(file_id: params[:file_id], user_id: [user_id, submission.user_id])
       end
 
-      #@comments = Comment.where(file_id: params[:file_id])
-
       #add names to comments
       # if the user is internal, set the name
-      # todo:
-      # if the user is external, fetch the displayname from xikolo
+
       @comments.map{|comment|
         if(comment.user_type == 'InternalUser')
           comment.username = InternalUser.find(comment.user_id).name
         elsif(comment.user_type == 'ExternalUser')
           comment.username = ExternalUser.find(comment.user_id).name
-              #alternativ: Xikolo::UserClient.get(comment.user_id.to_s)[:display_name]
+          # alternative: # if the user is external, fetch the displayname from xikolo
+          # Xikolo::UserClient.get(comment.user_id.to_s)[:display_name]
         end
       }
     else
diff --git a/app/controllers/request_for_comments_controller.rb b/app/controllers/request_for_comments_controller.rb
index fbeb21b7..2a68619b 100644
--- a/app/controllers/request_for_comments_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/request_for_comments_controller.rb
@@ -66,6 +66,6 @@ class RequestForCommentsController < ApplicationController
 
     # Never trust parameters from the scary internet, only allow the white list through.
     def request_for_comment_params
-      params.require(:request_for_comment).permit(:requestorid, :exerciseid, :fileid, :requested_at)
+      params.require(:request_for_comment).permit(:requestor_user_id, :exercise_id, :file_id, :requested_at)
     end
 end
diff --git a/app/views/request_for_comments/_form.html.erb b/app/views/request_for_comments/_form.html.erb
index a8d037e9..493e2445 100644
--- a/app/views/request_for_comments/_form.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/request_for_comments/_form.html.erb
@@ -12,21 +12,25 @@
   <% end %>
 
   <div class="field">
-    <%= f.label :requestorid %><br>
-    <%= f.number_field :requestorid %>
+    <%= f.label :requestor_user_id %><br>
+    <%= f.number_field :requestor_user_id %>
   </div>
   <div class="field">
-    <%= f.label :exerciseid %><br>
-    <%= f.number_field :exerciseid %>
+    <%= f.label :exercise_id %><br>
+    <%= f.number_field :exercise_id %>
   </div>
   <div class="field">
-    <%= f.label :fileid %><br>
-    <%= f.number_field :fileid %>
+    <%= f.label :file_id %><br>
+    <%= f.number_field :file_id %>
   </div>
   <div class="field">
     <%= f.label :requested_at %><br>
     <%= f.datetime_select :requested_at %>
   </div>
+  <div class="field">
+    <%= f.label :user_type %><br>
+    <%= f.text_field :user_type %>
+  </div>
   <div class="actions">
     <%= f.submit %>
   </div>
diff --git a/app/views/request_for_comments/index.html.erb b/app/views/request_for_comments/index.html.erb
index 311be4b5..8a234e6f 100644
--- a/app/views/request_for_comments/index.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/request_for_comments/index.html.erb
@@ -3,9 +3,18 @@
 <div class="list-group">
   <% @request_for_comments.each do |request_for_comment| %>
     <a href="<%= request_for_comment_path(request_for_comment) %>" class="list-group-item">
-      <h4 class="list-group-item-heading"><%= Exercise.find(request_for_comment.exerciseid) %></h4>
+      <h4 class="list-group-item-heading"><%= Exercise.find(request_for_comment.exercise_id) %></h4>
       <p class="list-group-item-text">
-        <%= InternalUser.find(request_for_comment.requestorid) %> | <%= request_for_comment.requested_at %>
+        <%
+           user = nil
+           if (request_for_comment.user_type == 'InternalUser')
+             user = InternalUser.find(request_for_comment.requestor_user_id)
+           else
+             user = ExternalUser.find(request_for_comment.requestor_user_id)
+           end
+        %>
+
+          <%= user %> | <%= request_for_comment.requested_at %>
       </p>
     </a>
   <% end %>
diff --git a/app/views/request_for_comments/index.json.jbuilder b/app/views/request_for_comments/index.json.jbuilder
index 26b37b67..72204e6e 100644
--- a/app/views/request_for_comments/index.json.jbuilder
+++ b/app/views/request_for_comments/index.json.jbuilder
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 json.array!(@request_for_comments) do |request_for_comment|
-  json.extract! request_for_comment, :id, :requestorid, :exerciseid, :fileid, :requested_at
+  json.extract! request_for_comment, :id, :requestor_user_id, :exercise_id, :file_id, :requested_at, :user_type
   json.url request_for_comment_url(request_for_comment, format: :json)
 end
diff --git a/app/views/request_for_comments/show.html.erb b/app/views/request_for_comments/show.html.erb
index 1b8e7495..179c8cd5 100644
--- a/app/views/request_for_comments/show.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/request_for_comments/show.html.erb
@@ -1,14 +1,22 @@
 <div class="list-group">
-  <h4 class="list-group-item-heading"><%= Exercise.find(@request_for_comment.exerciseid) %></h4>
+  <h4 class="list-group-item-heading"><%= Exercise.find(@request_for_comment.exercise_id) %></h4>
   <p class="list-group-item-text">
-    <%= InternalUser.find(@request_for_comment.requestorid) %> | <%= @request_for_comment.requested_at %>
+      <%
+         user = nil
+         if (@request_for_comment.user_type == 'InternalUser')
+           user = InternalUser.find(@request_for_comment.requestor_user_id)
+         else
+           user = ExternalUser.find(@request_for_comment.requestor_user_id)
+         end
+      %>
+    <%= user %> | <%= @request_for_comment.requested_at %>
   </p>
 </div>
 
 <!--
 do not put a carriage return in the line below. it will be present in the presentation of the source code, otherwise.
 -->
-<div id='commentitor' class='editor' data-read-only='true' data-file-id='<%=@request_for_comment.fileid%>'><%= CodeOcean::File.find(@request_for_comment.fileid).content %>
+<div id='commentitor' class='editor' data-read-only='true' data-file-id='<%=@request_for_comment.file_id%>'><%= CodeOcean::File.find(@request_for_comment.file_id).content %>
 </div>
 
 <script type="text/javascript">
diff --git a/app/views/request_for_comments/show.json.jbuilder b/app/views/request_for_comments/show.json.jbuilder
index 27897168..b3962aad 100644
--- a/app/views/request_for_comments/show.json.jbuilder
+++ b/app/views/request_for_comments/show.json.jbuilder
@@ -1 +1 @@
-json.extract! @request_for_comment, :id, :requestorid, :exerciseid, :fileid, :requested_at, :created_at, :updated_at
+json.extract! @request_for_comment, :id, :requestor_user_id, :exercise_id, :file_id, :requested_at, :created_at, :updated_at, :user_type
diff --git a/db/migrate/20150818141554_add_user_type_to_request_for_comments.rb b/db/migrate/20150818141554_add_user_type_to_request_for_comments.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f1450bff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20150818141554_add_user_type_to_request_for_comments.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+class AddUserTypeToRequestForComments < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    add_column :request_for_comments, :user_type, :string
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/migrate/20150818142251_correct_column_names.rb b/db/migrate/20150818142251_correct_column_names.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dd73814a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20150818142251_correct_column_names.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+class CorrectColumnNames < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+	rename_column :request_for_comments, :requestorid, :requestor_user_id
+  	rename_column :request_for_comments, :exerciseid, :exercise_id
+  	rename_column :request_for_comments, :fileid, :file_id
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index 6685f86c..30fb419f 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #
 # It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.
 
-ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20150421074734) do
+ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20150818142251) do
 
   # These are extensions that must be enabled in order to support this database
   enable_extension "plpgsql"
@@ -171,12 +171,13 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20150421074734) do
   add_index "internal_users_teams", ["team_id"], name: "index_internal_users_teams_on_team_id", using: :btree
 
   create_table "request_for_comments", force: true do |t|
-    t.integer  "requestorid",  null: false
-    t.integer  "exerciseid",   null: false
-    t.integer  "fileid",       null: false
+    t.integer  "requestor_user_id", null: false
+    t.integer  "exercise_id",       null: false
+    t.integer  "file_id",           null: false
     t.datetime "requested_at"
     t.datetime "created_at"
     t.datetime "updated_at"
+    t.string   "user_type"
   end
 
   create_table "submissions", force: true do |t|