diff --git a/lib/PBot/Core/Interpreter.pm b/lib/PBot/Core/Interpreter.pm
index f078f504..6d8d43a4 100644
--- a/lib/PBot/Core/Interpreter.pm
+++ b/lib/PBot/Core/Interpreter.pm
@@ -691,6 +691,8 @@ sub handle_result {
 
     my $original_result = $result;
 
+    $context->{original_result} = $result;
+
     $result =~ s/[\n\r]/ /g unless $preserve_newlines;
     $result =~ s/[ \t]+/ /g unless $context->{preserve_whitespace};
 
@@ -730,13 +732,6 @@ sub handle_result {
             last;
         }
 
-        # insert null-width spaces into nicknames to prevent IRC clients
-        # from unncessarily highlighting people
-        $line = $self->dehighlight_nicks($line, $context->{from});
-
-        # truncate if necessary, pasting original result to a web paste site
-        $line = $self->truncate_result($context, $line, $original_result);
-
         if ($use_output_queue) {
             my $delay   = rand(10) + 5;
             my $message = {
@@ -880,6 +875,13 @@ sub output_result {
     # nothing more to do here if the output is going to the bot
     return if $to eq $botnick;
 
+    # insert null-width spaces into nicknames to prevent IRC clients
+    # from unncessarily highlighting people
+    $output = $self->dehighlight_nicks($output, $to) unless $output =~ m|^/msg |;
+
+    # truncate if necessary, pasting original result to a web paste site
+    $output = $self->truncate_result($context, $output, $context->{original_result});
+
     # handle various /command prefixes
 
     my $type = 'echo'; # will be set to 'echo' or 'action' depending on /command prefix
diff --git a/lib/PBot/VERSION.pm b/lib/PBot/VERSION.pm
index 91438889..d61494f1 100644
--- a/lib/PBot/VERSION.pm
+++ b/lib/PBot/VERSION.pm
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ use PBot::Imports;
 # These are set by the /misc/update_version script
 use constant {
     BUILD_NAME     => "PBot",
-    BUILD_REVISION => 4366,
-    BUILD_DATE     => "2021-08-24",
+    BUILD_REVISION => 4367,
+    BUILD_DATE     => "2021-08-25",
 };
 
 sub initialize {}