diff --git a/lib/CoreBot.js b/lib/CoreBot.js
index 46bd9be02..52cdcc05b 100755
--- a/lib/CoreBot.js
+++ b/lib/CoreBot.js
@@ -1585,7 +1585,7 @@ function Botkit(configuration) {
         }));
         botkit.webserver.use(express.static(static_dir));
 
-        botkit.webserver.server = botkit.webserver.listen(
+        botkit.httpserver = botkit.webserver.listen(
             botkit.config.port,
             botkit.config.hostname,
             function() {
diff --git a/lib/SlackBot.js b/lib/SlackBot.js
index 4c6229b63..8074ea3bc 100755
--- a/lib/SlackBot.js
+++ b/lib/SlackBot.js
@@ -566,9 +566,10 @@ function Slackbot(configuration) {
             // normalize fields to match the rtm message format
             message.user = message.user.id;
             
-            // home and modal surfaces don't have channel IDs
+            // home and modal surfaces don't have channel IDs -.-
+            // we default channel ID to user ID so that string operations will still work
             if ((message.view && (message.view.type === 'home' || message.view.type === 'modal'))) {
-                message.channel = {};    
+                message.channel = message.user.id;
             } else {
                 message.channel = message.channel.id;
             }