diff --git a/code/__HELPERS/text.dm b/code/__HELPERS/text.dm
index f9bae78c35b..a891ad36a43 100644
--- a/code/__HELPERS/text.dm
+++ b/code/__HELPERS/text.dm
@@ -59,6 +59,10 @@
 /proc/sanitize(var/t,var/list/repl_chars = null)
 	return html_encode(sanitize_simple(t,repl_chars))
 
+/proc/paranoid_sanitize(t)
+	var/regex/alphanum_only = regex("\[^a-zA-Z0-9#]", "g")
+	return alphanum_only.Replace(t, "#")
+
 //Runs sanitize and strip_html_simple
 //I believe strip_html_simple() is required to run first to prevent '<' from displaying as '&lt;' after sanitize() calls byond's html_encode()
 /proc/strip_html(var/t,var/limit=MAX_MESSAGE_LEN)
@@ -542,4 +546,3 @@ proc/checkhtml(var/t)
 	text = replacetext(text, "<td>",					"\[cell\]")
 	text = replacetext(text, "<img src = ntlogo.png>",	"\[logo\]")
 	return text
-
diff --git a/code/_globalvars/configuration.dm b/code/_globalvars/configuration.dm
index 2d9b9761523..88d4594e740 100644
--- a/code/_globalvars/configuration.dm
+++ b/code/_globalvars/configuration.dm
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ var/mouse_respawn_time = 5 //Amount of time that must pass between a player dyin
 // It's defined here as a global because this is a hilariously bad thing to have on the easily-edited config datum
 var/global/shutdown_shell_command
 
+// Also global to prevent easy edits
+var/global/python_path = "" //Path to the python executable.  Defaults to "python" on windows and "/usr/bin/env python2" on unix
+
 // Debug is used exactly once (in living.dm) but is commented out in a lot of places.  It is not set anywhere and only checked.
 // Debug2 is used in conjunction with a lot of admin verbs and therefore is actually legit.
 var/Debug = 0	// global debug switch
@@ -44,4 +47,4 @@ var/blobevent = 0
 //Medals hub related variables
 var/global/medal_hub = null
 var/global/medal_pass = " "
-var/global/medals_enabled = TRUE	//will be auto set to false if the game fails contacting the medal hub to prevent unneeded calls.
\ No newline at end of file
+var/global/medals_enabled = TRUE	//will be auto set to false if the game fails contacting the medal hub to prevent unneeded calls.
diff --git a/code/controllers/configuration.dm b/code/controllers/configuration.dm
index ff313e62fb3..0cc5a500d16 100644
--- a/code/controllers/configuration.dm
+++ b/code/controllers/configuration.dm
@@ -142,7 +142,6 @@
 	var/admin_irc = ""
 	var/admin_notify_irc = ""
 	var/cidrandomizer_irc = ""
-	var/python_path = "" //Path to the python executable.  Defaults to "python" on windows and "/usr/bin/env python2" on unix
 
 	var/default_laws = 0 //Controls what laws the AI spawns with.
 
@@ -494,12 +493,12 @@
 
 				if("python_path")
 					if(value)
-						config.python_path = value
+						python_path = value
 					else
 						if(world.system_type == UNIX)
-							config.python_path = "/usr/bin/env python2"
+							python_path = "/usr/bin/env python2"
 						else //probably windows, if not this should work anyway
-							config.python_path = "pythonw"
+							python_path = "pythonw"
 
 				if("assistant_limit")
 					config.assistantlimit = 1
diff --git a/code/modules/ext_scripts/irc.dm b/code/modules/ext_scripts/irc.dm
index 05ac226d7e7..c0a25979df2 100644
--- a/code/modules/ext_scripts/irc.dm
+++ b/code/modules/ext_scripts/irc.dm
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 	if(config.use_irc_bot && config.irc_bot_host.len)
 		for(var/IP in config.irc_bot_host)
 			spawn(0)
-				ext_python("ircbot_message.py", "[config.comms_password] [IP] [channel] [msg]")
+				// I have no means of trusting you, cmd
+				ext_python("ircbot_message.py", "[config.comms_password] [IP] [channel] [paranoid_sanitize(msg)]")
 	return
 
 /proc/send2mainirc(var/msg)
diff --git a/code/modules/ext_scripts/python.dm b/code/modules/ext_scripts/python.dm
index b10fc691309..6781af866e3 100644
--- a/code/modules/ext_scripts/python.dm
+++ b/code/modules/ext_scripts/python.dm
@@ -4,6 +4,6 @@
 	if(world.system_type == MS_WINDOWS)
 		script = replacetext(script, "/", "\\")
 
-	var/command = config.python_path + " " + script + " " + args
+	var/command = python_path + " " + script + " " + args
 	shell("[command]")
-	return
\ No newline at end of file
+	return