diff --git a/client/js/libs/handlebars/ircmessageparser/merge.js b/client/js/libs/handlebars/ircmessageparser/merge.js
index fd1a6877..890df86c 100644
--- a/client/js/libs/handlebars/ircmessageparser/merge.js
+++ b/client/js/libs/handlebars/ircmessageparser/merge.js
@@ -13,23 +13,34 @@ function assign(textPart, fragment) {
 	return Object.assign({}, fragment, {start, end, text});
 }
 
-// Merge the style fragments withing the text parts, taking into account
+function sortParts(a, b) {
+	return a.start - b.start || b.end - a.end;
+}
+
+// Merge the style fragments within the text parts, taking into account
 // boundaries and text sections that have not matched to links or channels.
 // For example, given a string "foobar" where "foo" and "bar" have been
 // identified as parts (channels, links, etc.) and "fo", "ob" and "ar" have 3
 // different styles, the first resulting part will contain fragments "fo" and
 // "o", and the second resulting part will contain "b" and "ar". "o" and "b"
 // fragments will contain duplicate styling attributes.
-function merge(textParts, styleFragments) {
-	// Re-build the overall text (without control codes) from the style fragments
-	const cleanText = styleFragments.reduce((acc, frag) => acc + frag.text, "");
-
+function merge(textParts, styleFragments, cleanText) {
 	// Every section of the original text that has not been captured in a "part"
 	// is filled with "text" parts, dummy objects with start/end but no extra
 	// metadata.
 	const allParts = textParts
+		.sort(sortParts) // Sort all parts identified based on their position in the original text
 		.concat(fill(textParts, cleanText))
-		.sort((a, b) => a.start - b.start);
+		.sort(sortParts) // Sort them again after filling in unstyled text
+		.reduce((prev, curr) => {
+			const intersection = prev.some((p) => anyIntersection(p, curr));
+
+			if (intersection) {
+				return prev;
+			}
+
+			return prev.concat([curr]);
+		}, []);
 
 	// Distribute the style fragments within the text parts
 	return allParts.map((textPart) => {
diff --git a/client/js/libs/handlebars/parse.js b/client/js/libs/handlebars/parse.js
index bd825047..0a08769a 100644
--- a/client/js/libs/handlebars/parse.js
+++ b/client/js/libs/handlebars/parse.js
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 const Handlebars = require("handlebars/runtime");
 const parseStyle = require("./ircmessageparser/parseStyle");
-const anyIntersection = require("./ircmessageparser/anyIntersection");
 const findChannels = require("./ircmessageparser/findChannels");
 const findLinks = require("./ircmessageparser/findLinks");
 const findEmoji = require("./ircmessageparser/findEmoji");
@@ -85,25 +84,14 @@ module.exports = function parse(text, users) {
 	const emojiParts = findEmoji(cleanText);
 	const nameParts = findNames(cleanText, (users || []));
 
-	// Sort all parts identified based on their position in the original text
 	const parts = channelParts
 		.concat(linkParts)
 		.concat(emojiParts)
-		.concat(nameParts)
-		.sort((a, b) => a.start - b.start || b.end - a.end)
-		.reduce((prev, curr) => {
-			const intersection = prev.some((p) => anyIntersection(p, curr));
-
-			if (intersection) {
-				return prev;
-			}
-
-			return prev.concat([curr]);
-		}, []);
+		.concat(nameParts);
 
 	// Merge the styling information with the channels / URLs / nicks / text objects and
 	// generate HTML strings with the resulting fragments
-	return merge(parts, styleFragments).map((textPart) => {
+	return merge(parts, styleFragments, cleanText).map((textPart) => {
 		// Create HTML strings with styling information
 		const fragments = textPart.fragments.map(createFragment).join("");
 
diff --git a/test/client/js/libs/handlebars/ircmessageparser/merge.js b/test/client/js/libs/handlebars/ircmessageparser/merge.js
index bcf79ca5..4125b6cc 100644
--- a/test/client/js/libs/handlebars/ircmessageparser/merge.js
+++ b/test/client/js/libs/handlebars/ircmessageparser/merge.js
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ describe("merge", () => {
 			}],
 		}];
 
-		const actual = merge(textParts, styleFragments);
+		const actual = merge(textParts, styleFragments, styleFragments.map((fragment) => fragment.text).join(""));
 
 		expect(actual).to.deep.equal(expected);
 	});