diff --git a/goodnews/api.py b/goodnews/api.py
index 31a6286..fdde4b1 100644
--- a/goodnews/api.py
+++ b/goodnews/api.py
@@ -843,8 +843,9 @@ def create_app() -> FastAPI:
 
     @app.post("/api/admin/feedback/{fid}/reply")
     def admin_feedback_reply(fid: int, body: FeedbackReplyBody, request: Request) -> dict:
-        # Sanitize the editor HTML to our allowlist; derive the plain-text fallback.
-        reply_html = sanitize_reply_html(body.html)[:8000]
+        # Cap the RAW editor HTML first (slicing sanitized output could sever a
+        # tag), then sanitize the whole thing.
+        reply_html = sanitize_reply_html((body.html or "")[:20000])
         reply_text = reply_html_to_text(reply_html)
         if not reply_text:
             raise HTTPException(status_code=422, detail="Reply message is required.")
diff --git a/goodnews/markup.py b/goodnews/markup.py
index cbd8159..0392fcb 100644
--- a/goodnews/markup.py
+++ b/goodnews/markup.py
@@ -118,6 +118,11 @@ def sanitize_reply_html(raw: str) -> str:
     p = _Sanitizer()
     p.feed(raw)
     p.close()
+    # Close any still-open allowed tags (malformed input → never emit a dangling
+    # or severed tag into stored HTML / the email body).
+    for canon in reversed(p.open):
+        if canon:
+            p.out.append(f"</{canon}>")
     html = "".join(p.out)
     # If nothing but markup/whitespace survived, treat as empty.
     if not re.sub(r"<[^>]+>", "", html).strip():
diff --git a/tests/test_markup.py b/tests/test_markup.py
index b7fe947..fd056c9 100644
--- a/tests/test_markup.py
+++ b/tests/test_markup.py
@@ -41,3 +41,13 @@ def test_html_to_text():
     assert t2("<p>hi <strong>there</strong></p>") == "hi there"
     assert t2("<ul><li>a</li><li>b</li></ul>") == "- a\n- b"
     assert t2('<span style="font-size:18px">big</span>') == "big"
+
+
+def test_autocloses_unclosed_tags():
+    assert s("<strong>bold") == "<strong>bold</strong>"
+    assert s("<p>hi") == "<p>hi</p>"
+    assert s("<ul><li>a</li>") == "<ul><li>a</li></ul>"  # unclosed <ul> gets closed
+    assert s('<span style="font-size:18px">big') == '<span style="font-size:18px">big</span>'
+    # pathological input still never leaves a dangling open tag (balanced output)
+    out = s("<strong><em>x")
+    assert out == "<strong><em>x</em></strong>"