diff -r e24793fae424 -r 1b734faab67a irc.py
--- a/irc.py	Tue Aug 11 19:12:30 2015 +0300
+++ b/irc.py	Sun Aug 16 10:59:22 2015 +0300
@@ -31,10 +31,11 @@
 import socket
 import sys
 import re
-import modulecore as ModuleCore
 import traceback
 import time
 import datetime
+
+import modulecore
 from configfile import Config
 import bt as Bt
 import hgpoll as HgPoll
@@ -124,10 +125,7 @@
 
 	def write (self, utfdata):
 		try:
-			if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
-				self.send_buffer.append (utfdata.decode("utf-8","ignore").encode("ascii","ignore"))
-			else:
-				self.send_buffer.append (utfdata)
+			self.send_buffer.append (utfdata)
 		except UnicodeEncodeError:
 			pass
 
@@ -150,30 +148,24 @@
 			if self.verbose:
 				print ("[%s] [%s] <- %s" % (get_timestamp(), self.name, line))
 
-			if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
-				self.send (bytes (line + '\n', 'UTF-8'))
-			else:
-				self.send (line + '\n')
+			self.send (bytes (line + '\n', 'UTF-8'))
 			time.sleep (0.25)
 		self.send_buffer = []
 
 	def handle_read (self):
 		lines = self.recv (4096).splitlines()
 		for line in lines:
-			try:
-				line = line.decode ('utf-8', 'ignore')
-
-				if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
-					line = line.encode ('ascii', 'ignore')
-			except UnicodeDecodeError:
-				continue
+			line = line.decode ('utf-8', 'ignore')
 
 			if self.verbose:
 				print ("[%s] [%s] -> %s" % (get_timestamp(), self.name, line))
 
 			if line[:len('PING :')] == ('PING :'):
 				self.write ("PONG :%s" % line[len('PING :'):])
-				self.send_all_now() # pings must be responded to immediately!
+
+				# Pings must be responded to immediately, otherwise command/event/etc processing may
+				# delay the pong sending enough for the bot to be disconnected over a timeout.
+				self.send_all_now()
 			else:
 				words = line.split(" ")
 				if len(words) >= 2:
@@ -238,13 +230,13 @@
 			return
 
 		if channel != self.mynick:
-			ModuleCore.call_hook (bot=self, hookname='chanmsg', channel=channel, sender=sender,
+			modulecore.call_hook (bot=self, hookname='chanmsg', channel=channel, sender=sender,
 				ident=user, host=host, message=message, replyto=replyto)
 		else:
-			ModuleCore.call_hook (bot=self, hookname='querymsg', sender=sender, ident=user,
+			modulecore.call_hook (bot=self, hookname='querymsg', sender=sender, ident=user,
 				host=host, message=message, replyto=replyto)
 
-		ModuleCore.call_hook (bot=self, hookname='privmsg', target=channel, sender=sender,
+		modulecore.call_hook (bot=self, hookname='privmsg', target=channel, sender=sender,
 			ident=user, host=host, message=message, replyto=replyto)
 
 		Bt.process_message (self, line, replyto)
@@ -276,10 +268,10 @@
 			'replyto': replyto, 'cmdname': command, 'message': message}
 
 		try:
-			ModuleCore.call_command (self, **kvargs)
+			modulecore.call_command (self, **kvargs)
 			return
-		except ModuleCore.CommandError as e:
-			lines = str (e).split ('\n')
+		except modulecore.CommandError as e:
+			lines = str (e).splitlines()
 			self.privmsg (replyto, 'error: %s' % lines[0])
 
 			for line in lines[1:]: