diff --git a/bot.sh b/bot.sh
index c237b4c..3b625d9 100755
--- a/bot.sh
+++ b/bot.sh
@@ -267,6 +267,11 @@ while true; do
         ;;
         # run when a message is seen
         *PRIVMSG*)
+            # Only process if this is a user message (contains ! for hostmask)
+            if [[ ! "$result" =~ :[^!]+!.*PRIVMSG ]]; then
+                continue
+            fi
+
             who="${result%%!*}"
             who="${who:1}"
             from="${result#*#}"
diff --git a/triggers/wordtrack/wordtrack.sh b/triggers/wordtrack/wordtrack.sh
index acefb94..4afc941 100755
--- a/triggers/wordtrack/wordtrack.sh
+++ b/triggers/wordtrack/wordtrack.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,18 @@ channelName="$2"
 shift 2
 message="$*"
 
+# Sanitize username (extract just the nickname, max 30 chars per IRC RFC)
+# Remove any IRC protocol remnants, hostmask info, etc.
+name="${name%%!*}"        # Remove hostmask if present
+name="${name%%[[:space:]]*}"  # Remove any trailing data
+name="${name//[^a-zA-Z0-9_\[\]\{\}\\|\^-]/}"  # Only allow valid IRC nick chars
+name="${name:0:30}"       # Limit to max IRC nickname length
+
+# If name is empty or invalid after sanitization, skip
+if [[ -z "$name" ]]; then
+    exit 0
+fi
+
 # Sanitize channel name (remove any IRC protocol remnants)
 channelName="${channelName%%[[:space:]]*}"
 channelName="${channelName//[^a-zA-Z0-9#_-]/}"