diff --git a/irc/handlers.go b/irc/handlers.go
index 8aa9917d..58b22288 100644
--- a/irc/handlers.go
+++ b/irc/handlers.go
@@ -352,8 +352,6 @@ func batchHandler(server *Server, client *Client, msg ircmsg.IrcMessage, rb *Res
 			} else {
 				rb.session.batch.target = msg.Params[2]
 				// save the response label for later
-				// XXX changing the label inside a handler is a bit dodgy, but it works here
-				// because there's no way we could have triggered a flush up to this point
 				rb.session.batch.responseLabel = rb.Label
 				rb.Label = ""
 			}
@@ -366,12 +364,15 @@ func batchHandler(server *Server, client *Client, msg ircmsg.IrcMessage, rb *Res
 		} else {
 			batch := rb.session.batch
 			rb.session.batch = MultilineBatch{}
+			// time tag should correspond to the time when the message was completed
+			batch.message.SetTime()
 			histType, err := msgCommandToHistType(batch.command)
 			if err != nil {
 				histType = history.Privmsg
 				batch.command = "PRIVMSG"
 			}
-			// see previous caution about modifying ResponseBuffer.Label
+			// XXX changing the label inside a handler is a bit dodgy, but it works here
+			// because there's no way we could have triggered a flush up to this point
 			rb.Label = batch.responseLabel
 			dispatchMessageToTarget(client, batch.tags, histType, batch.command, batch.target, batch.message, rb)
 		}
diff --git a/irc/utils/text.go b/irc/utils/text.go
index 1c8e3f2f..de240643 100644
--- a/irc/utils/text.go
+++ b/irc/utils/text.go
@@ -42,9 +42,6 @@ func MakeMessage(original string) (result SplitMessage) {
 }
 
 func (sm *SplitMessage) Append(message string, concat bool) {
-	if sm.Time.IsZero() {
-		sm.Time = time.Now().UTC()
-	}
 	if sm.Msgid == "" {
 		sm.Msgid = GenerateSecretToken()
 	}
@@ -54,6 +51,10 @@ func (sm *SplitMessage) Append(message string, concat bool) {
 	})
 }
 
+func (sm *SplitMessage) SetTime() {
+	sm.Time = time.Now().UTC()
+}
+
 func (sm *SplitMessage) LenLines() int {
 	if sm.Split == nil {
 		if sm.Message == "" {