diff --git a/world/net/person.c b/world/net/person.c
index 3df6643..e7ee345 100644
--- a/world/net/person.c
+++ b/world/net/person.c
@@ -1048,7 +1048,7 @@ case "_request_location":
 			return 0;
 case "_request_link":
 case "_set_password":
-			PT(("_request_link for %O\n", ME))
+			P3(("_request_link for %O. vars %O\n", ME, vars))
 	// TODO: shouldn't we use some kind of observer pattern on the
 	// 	current_interactive to become aware of disconnects?
 	// 	at least if the current interactive is not a server2server
diff --git a/world/net/user.c b/world/net/user.c
index 26127cd..39050b1 100644
--- a/world/net/user.c
+++ b/world/net/user.c
@@ -1336,7 +1336,11 @@ w(string mc, string data, mapping vars, mixed source, int showingLog) {
 	    string nudata = data;
 	   
 	    // this little thing enables languages for psyc clients etc.
-	    if (template && strlen(template) && !abbrev("_message", mc))
+	    // but we really need to get rid of the special cases in the
+	    // protocol syntax
+	    if (template && strlen(template)
+		     && !abbrev("_message", mc)
+		     && !abbrev("_request", mc))
 		nudata = template;
 
 	    //PT(("%O user:w(%O,%O..%O) - %O\n", ME,mc,data,source, template))