diff --git a/includes/connectors.php b/includes/connectors.php
index 7c803ab19..c22530c16 100644
--- a/includes/connectors.php
+++ b/includes/connectors.php
@@ -167,18 +167,24 @@ public static function is_logging_enabled_for_user( $user = null ) {
 			$user = wp_get_current_user();
 		}
 
-		// If the user is not a valid user then we log action
+		$bool             = true;
+		$user_roles       = array_values( $user->roles );
+		$excluded_authors = WP_Stream_Settings::get_excluded_by_key( 'authors' );
+		$excluded_roles   = WP_Stream_Settings::get_excluded_by_key( 'roles' );
+
+		// Don't log excluded users
+		if ( in_array( $user->ID, $excluded_authors ) ) {
+			$bool = false;
+		}
+
+		// Don't log excluded user roles
+		if ( 0 !== count( array_intersect( $user_roles, $excluded_roles ) ) ) {
+			$bool = false;
+		}
+
+		// If the user is not a valid user then we always log the action
 		if ( ! ( $user instanceof WP_User ) || 0 === $user->ID ) {
 			$bool = true;
-		} else {
-			// If a user is part of a role that we don't want to log, we disable it
-			$user_roles   = array_values( $user->roles );
-			$roles_logged = WP_Stream_Settings::get_excluded_by_key( 'authors_and_roles' );
-			$bool         = ( 0 === count( array_intersect( $user_roles, $roles_logged ) ) );
-			//Check user id in exclude array
-			if ( $bool ) {
-				$bool = ! ( in_array( $user->ID, $roles_logged ) );
-			}
 		}
 
 		/**
diff --git a/includes/list-table.php b/includes/list-table.php
index fed349444..5fa86eb2d 100644
--- a/includes/list-table.php
+++ b/includes/list-table.php
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ function assemble_records( $column, $table = '' ) {
 			require_once WP_STREAM_INC_DIR . 'class-wp-stream-author.php';
 			$all_records = array();
 
-			// Short circuit and return empty array if we have more than 10 users, to use Ajax instead
+			// If the number of users exceeds the max authors constant value then return an empty array and use AJAX instead
 			$user_count  = count_users();
 			$total_users = $user_count['total_users'];
 			if ( $total_users > WP_Stream_Admin::PRELOAD_AUTHORS_MAX ) {
@@ -751,7 +751,7 @@ function get_column_excluded_setting_key( $column ) {
 				$output = 'ip_addresses';
 				break;
 			case 'author':
-				$output = 'authors_and_roles';
+				$output = 'authors';
 				break;
 			default:
 				$output = false;
diff --git a/includes/network.php b/includes/network.php
index dafb3ebcf..ba516c013 100644
--- a/includes/network.php
+++ b/includes/network.php
@@ -254,7 +254,8 @@ function get_network_admin_fields( $fields ) {
 					'private_feeds',
 				),
 				'exclude' => array(
-					'authors_and_roles',
+					'authors',
+					'roles',
 					'connectors',
 					'contexts',
 					'actions',
diff --git a/includes/query.php b/includes/query.php
index 0c87ea21f..4efe08756 100755
--- a/includes/query.php
+++ b/includes/query.php
@@ -362,7 +362,10 @@ public static function add_excluded_record_args( $args ) {
 		$args['action__not_in'] = WP_Stream_Settings::get_excluded_by_key( 'actions' );
 
 		// Remove record of excluded author
-		$args['author__not_in'] = WP_Stream_Settings::get_excluded_by_key( 'authors_and_roles' );
+		$args['author__not_in'] = WP_Stream_Settings::get_excluded_by_key( 'authors' );
+
+		// Remove record of excluded author role
+		$args['author_role__not_in'] = WP_Stream_Settings::get_excluded_by_key( 'roles' );
 
 		// Remove record of excluded ip
 		$args['ip__not_in'] = WP_Stream_Settings::get_excluded_by_key( 'ip_addresses' );
diff --git a/includes/settings.php b/includes/settings.php
index 548b599ed..d7635adc2 100644
--- a/includes/settings.php
+++ b/includes/settings.php
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ public static function get_users(){
 					'user_url',
 				),
 				'orderby' => 'display_name',
+				'number'  => WP_Stream_Admin::PRELOAD_AUTHORS_MAX,
 			)
 		);
 
@@ -212,6 +213,7 @@ public static function get_option_key() {
 		$option_key = self::KEY;
 
 		$current_page = wp_stream_filter_input( INPUT_GET, 'page' );
+
 		if ( ! $current_page ) {
 			$current_page = wp_stream_filter_input( INPUT_GET, 'action' );
 		}
@@ -846,12 +848,13 @@ public static function get_active_connectors() {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * @param $column string name of the setting key (actions|ip_addresses|contexts|connectors)
+	 * @param $column string name of the setting key (authors|roles|actions|ip_addresses|contexts|connectors)
 	 *
 	 * @return array
 	 */
 	public static function get_excluded_by_key( $column ) {
-		$option_name     = 'exclude_' . $column;
+		$option_name = ( 'authors' === $column || 'roles' === $column ) ? 'exclude_authors_and_roles' : 'exclude_' . $column;
+
 		$excluded_values = ( isset( self::$options[ $option_name ] ) ) ? self::$options[ $option_name ] : array();
 
 		if ( is_callable( $excluded_values ) ) {
@@ -860,6 +863,21 @@ public static function get_excluded_by_key( $column ) {
 
 		$excluded_values = wp_list_filter( $excluded_values, array( '__placeholder__' ), 'NOT' );
 
+		if ( 'exclude_authors_and_roles' === $option_name ) {
+			// Convert numeric strings to integers
+			array_walk( $excluded_values,
+				function ( &$value ) {
+					if ( is_numeric( $value ) ) {
+						$value = absint( $value );
+					}
+				}
+			);
+
+			$filter = ( 'roles' === $column ) ? 'is_string' : 'is_int'; // Author roles are always strings and author ID's are always integers
+
+			$excluded_values = array_values( array_filter( $excluded_values, $filter ) ); // Reset the array keys
+		}
+
 		return $excluded_values;
 	}
 
diff --git a/stream.php b/stream.php
index 697a10126..25731d1ab 100755
--- a/stream.php
+++ b/stream.php
@@ -83,9 +83,9 @@ private function __construct() {
 		// Load languages
 		add_action( 'plugins_loaded', array( __CLASS__, 'i18n' ) );
 
-		// Load settings, enabling extensions to hook in
+		// Load settings at the same priority as connectors to support exclusions
 		require_once WP_STREAM_INC_DIR . 'settings.php';
-		add_action( 'init', array( 'WP_Stream_Settings', 'load' ) );
+		add_action( 'init', array( 'WP_Stream_Settings', 'load' ), 9 );
 
 		// Load network class
 		if ( is_multisite() ) {
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ private function __construct() {
 		require_once WP_STREAM_INC_DIR . 'log.php';
 		add_action( 'plugins_loaded', array( 'WP_Stream_Log', 'load' ) );
 
-		// Load connectors
+		// Load connectors after widgets_init, but before the default of 10
 		require_once WP_STREAM_INC_DIR . 'connectors.php';
 		add_action( 'init', array( 'WP_Stream_Connectors', 'load' ), 9 );
 
diff --git a/tests/tests/test-stream.php b/tests/tests/test-stream.php
index 15e8ed1c2..639219aa0 100644
--- a/tests/tests/test-stream.php
+++ b/tests/tests/test-stream.php
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ public function test_constructor() {
 		$this->assertTrue( defined( 'WP_STREAM_INC_DIR' ), 'WP_STREAM_INC_DIR is not defined' );
 
 		$actions_tests = array(
-			array( 'init', 'WP_Stream_Settings', 'load' ),
+			array( 'init', 'WP_Stream_Settings', 'load', 9 ),
 			array( 'plugins_loaded', 'WP_Stream_Log', 'load' ),
 			array( 'init', 'WP_Stream_Connectors', 'load', 9 ),
 		);