diff --git a/.github/fetch_includes.sh b/.github/fetch_includes.sh
index 4ed3fc9ad..0e68038fe 100644
--- a/.github/fetch_includes.sh
+++ b/.github/fetch_includes.sh
@@ -7,15 +7,17 @@ DICTIONARY_URL="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nesi/nesi-wordlist/main/output
 SNIPPETS_URL="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nesi/nesi-wordlist/main/outputs/snippets.md"
 ICAL_URL="https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/3d4e3c7b28ca4549803470b109cba86a@reannz.co.nz/0830583db389420aaa843dc231af48d810099982634588501079/calendar.ics"
 
-mkdir -p docs/assets/glossary
+mkdir -p docs/assets/glossary overrides/partials
 
-wget -q -O docs/assets/training_calendar.ics "${ICAL_URL}"
-wget -q -O docs/assets/module-list.json "${MODULES_LIST_URL}"
-wget -q -O docs/software_updates.xml "${MODULES_UPDATE_URL}"
+# The module-list.json is needed by link_apps_pages.py below, so we must
+# fetch that group first. Everything within each group runs in parallel.
+wget -q -O docs/assets/training_calendar.ics "${ICAL_URL}" &
+wget -q -O docs/assets/module-list.json     "${MODULES_LIST_URL}" &
+wget -q -O docs/software_updates.xml        "${MODULES_UPDATE_URL}" &
+wget -q -O overrides/partials/glossary.html "${GLOSSARY_URL}" &
+wget -q -O docs/assets/glossary/dictionary.txt "${DICTIONARY_URL}" &
+wget -q -O docs/assets/glossary/snippets.md "${SNIPPETS_URL}" &
+wait
 
 python3 .github/workflows/link_apps_pages.py
 
-wget -q -O overrides/partials/glossary.html "${GLOSSARY_URL}"
-wget -q -O docs/assets/glossary/dictionary.txt "${DICTIONARY_URL}"
-wget -q -O docs/assets/glossary/snippets.md "${SNIPPETS_URL}"
-
diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
index 5c48f7adb..9a14b1f7a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ env:
   PYTHON_VERSION: 3.14.2
   GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
   NO_MKDOCS_2_WARNING: "1"
+  ENABLED_GIT_DATES: "true"
 
 permissions:
   contents: write
diff --git a/mkdocs.yml b/mkdocs.yml
index 2c6284038..a35978599 100644
--- a/mkdocs.yml
+++ b/mkdocs.yml
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ plugins:
   - search
   - open-in-new-tab
   - rss:
+      enabled: false
       categories:
       - tags
       - title
@@ -116,6 +117,7 @@ plugins:
       tags: false  # This will keep tags for the purpose of indexing, but not display on page.
   - git-revision-date-localized:
       enable_creation_date: false
+      enabled: !ENV [ENABLED_GIT_DATES, false]
   - macros:
       on_error_fail: true
       verbose: true 
diff --git a/mkdocs_hooks.py b/mkdocs_hooks.py
index a4f688fca..75a1b5dca 100644
--- a/mkdocs_hooks.py
+++ b/mkdocs_hooks.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 If this is confusing, ask Cal to explain.
 """
 
-import proselint as pl
 import glob
 from pathlib import Path
 import json
@@ -21,6 +20,10 @@ def on_env(env, config, files, **kwargs):
 
 
 def lint(*args, **kwargs):
+    # Imported lazily: proselint pulls in google-re2 and a large rule set,
+    # and this function is not part of the mkdocs build path.
+    import proselint as pl
+
     output = {}
     print("running linter")
     for file in glob.iglob("docs/**/*.md", recursive=True):