diff --git a/gpcm/login.go b/gpcm/login.go
index 0023dd6..e429732 100644
--- a/gpcm/login.go
+++ b/gpcm/login.go
@@ -315,7 +315,9 @@ func (g *GameSpySession) login(command common.GameSpyCommand) {
 	}
 
 	if g.GameName == "mariokartwii" {
-		if motd, err := GetMessageOfTheDay(); err == nil {
+		if motd, err := GetMessageOfTheDay(); err != nil {
+			logging.Info(g.ModuleName, err)
+		} else {
 			motdUTF16 := utf16.Encode([]rune(motd))
 			motdByteArray := common.UTF16ToByteArray(motdUTF16)
 			otherValues["wwfc_motd"] = common.Base64DwcEncoding.EncodeToString(motdByteArray)
diff --git a/gpcm/motd.go b/gpcm/motd.go
index 3a0c657..b0b6c04 100644
--- a/gpcm/motd.go
+++ b/gpcm/motd.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package gpcm
 
 import (
 	"os"
-	"strings"
 )
 
 var motdFilepath = "./motd.txt"
@@ -13,8 +12,5 @@ func GetMessageOfTheDay() (string, error) {
 		return "", err
 	}
 
-	strContents := string(contents)
-	strContents = strings.TrimSpace(strContents)
-
-	return strContents, nil
+	return string(contents), nil
 }
diff --git a/nas/main.go b/nas/main.go
index e2f03fe..30d7228 100644
--- a/nas/main.go
+++ b/nas/main.go
@@ -49,7 +49,10 @@ func StartServer() {
 		go startHTTPSProxy(config)
 	}
 
-	CacheProfanityFile()
+	err = CacheProfanityFile()
+	if err != nil {
+		logging.Info("NAS", err)
+	}
 
 	logging.Notice("NAS", "Starting HTTP server on", address)
 	panic(nhttp.ListenAndServe(address, http.HandlerFunc(handleRequest)))
diff --git a/nas/profanity.go b/nas/profanity.go
index 587bee1..ce425a9 100644
--- a/nas/profanity.go
+++ b/nas/profanity.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package nas
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
 	"errors"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
@@ -9,15 +10,29 @@ import (
 var profanityFilePath = "./profanity.txt"
 var profanityFileLines []string = nil
 
-func CacheProfanityFile() bool {
-	contents, err := os.ReadFile(profanityFilePath)
+func CacheProfanityFile() error {
+	file, err := os.Open(profanityFilePath)
 	if err != nil {
-		return false
+		return err
+	}
+	defer file.Close()
+
+	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(file)
+	for scanner.Scan() {
+		line := scanner.Text()
+
+		if line == "" {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		profanityFileLines = append(profanityFileLines, line)
 	}
 
-	lines := strings.Split(string(contents), "\n")
-	profanityFileLines = lines
-	return true
+	if profanityFileLines == nil {
+		return errors.New("the file '" + profanityFilePath + "' is empty")
+	}
+
+	return nil
 }
 
 func IsBadWord(word string) (bool, error) {