diff --git a/TODO.txt b/TODO.txt
index 4d4d241..1a44adf 100644
--- a/TODO.txt
+++ b/TODO.txt
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ PRE-RELEASE
 
 - client descriptions (CTCP USERINFO)
 
-- remove color code escape sequences
-
 
 WISHLIST
 ========
@@ -58,3 +56,4 @@ https://github.com/eXeC64/Rosella AGPLv3 license
 
 https://github.com/edmund-huber/ergonomadic MIT license
 
+http://en.wikichip.org/wiki/irc/colors
diff --git a/server.go b/server.go
index efd66aa..656aadc 100644
--- a/server.go
+++ b/server.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import (
 	"libnmdc"
 	"log"
 	"net"
+	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -172,6 +173,23 @@ func (s *Server) postGeneralMessageInRoom(msg string) {
 
 }
 
+var rx_colorControlCode *regexp.Regexp = regexp.MustCompilePOSIX("\x03[0-9]+(,[0-9]+)?")
+var rx_formattingControlCode *regexp.Regexp = regexp.MustCompile("(\x02|\x1D|\x1F|\x16|\x0F)")
+
+func reformatOutgoingMessageBody(body string) string {
+
+	// Strip color codes
+	noColors := rx_colorControlCode.ReplaceAllString(body, "")
+
+	// Strip formatting codes
+	return rx_formattingControlCode.ReplaceAllString(noColors, "")
+
+}
+
+func reformatIncomingMessageBody(body string) string {
+	return body
+}
+
 func (s *Server) upstreamWorker() {
 
 	// Read loop
@@ -210,14 +228,14 @@ func (s *Server) upstreamWorker() {
 				s.sendChannelTopic(hubEvent.Nick)
 
 			case libnmdc.EVENT_PRIVATE:
-				s.reply(rplMsg, hubEvent.Nick+"!"+hubEvent.Nick+"@"+hubEvent.Nick, s.upstreamLauncher.Self.Nick, hubEvent.Message)
+				s.reply(rplMsg, hubEvent.Nick+"!"+hubEvent.Nick+"@"+hubEvent.Nick, s.upstreamLauncher.Self.Nick, reformatIncomingMessageBody(hubEvent.Message))
 
 			case libnmdc.EVENT_PUBLIC:
 				if hubEvent.Nick == s.upstreamLauncher.Self.Nick {
 					// irc doesn't echo our own pubchat
 				} else {
 					// nick!username@userhost, but for us all three of those are always identical
-					s.reply(rplMsg, hubEvent.Nick+"!"+hubEvent.Nick+"@"+hubEvent.Nick, BLESSED_CHANNEL, hubEvent.Message)
+					s.reply(rplMsg, hubEvent.Nick+"!"+hubEvent.Nick+"@"+hubEvent.Nick, BLESSED_CHANNEL, reformatIncomingMessageBody(hubEvent.Message))
 				}
 
 			case libnmdc.EVENT_SYSTEM_MESSAGE_FROM_CONN, libnmdc.EVENT_SYSTEM_MESSAGE_FROM_HUB:
@@ -411,17 +429,17 @@ func (s *Server) handleJoinedCommand(command string, args []string) {
 
 		if strings.HasPrefix(message, "\x01ACTION ") {
 			message = "/me " + message[8:]
-			message = message[:len(message)-1]
+			message = message[:len(message)-1] // trailing \x01
 		}
 
 		// IRC is case-insensitive case-preserving. We can respect that for the
 		//  channel name, but not really for user nicks
 
 		if strings.ToLower(args[0]) == BLESSED_CHANNEL {
-			s.upstream.SayPublic(message)
+			s.upstream.SayPublic(reformatOutgoingMessageBody(message))
 
 		} else if s.upstream.UserExists(args[0]) {
-			s.upstream.SayPrivate(args[0], message)
+			s.upstream.SayPrivate(args[0], reformatOutgoingMessageBody(message))
 
 		} else {
 			s.reply(errNoSuchNick, args[0])