diff --git a/locales/en-US/chrome/chatzilla.properties b/locales/en-US/chrome/chatzilla.properties
--- a/locales/en-US/chrome/chatzilla.properties
+++ b/locales/en-US/chrome/chatzilla.properties
@@ -1537,10 +1537,10 @@
 pref.hasPrefs.help              = Indicates the object has preferences saved. Never shown in preferences window. :)
 pref.identd.enabled.label       = Enable Identification Server during connection process
 pref.identd.enabled.help        = Allows ChatZilla to connect to servers that require an ident response.
-pref.initialURLs.label          = Auto-connect URLs
-pref.initialURLs.help           = A list of IRC URLs to which ChatZilla should connect when starting. These will not be processed if ChatZilla was started by clicking on a hyperlink to an irc host.
-pref.initialScripts.label       = Auto-load scripts
-pref.initialScripts.help        = When ChatZilla starts, it loads all the scripts listed here. Each item is a URL, which may be relative to the profile directory. If an item is a directory itself, ChatZilla loads "init.js" from that directory, and any subdirectory.
+pref.initialURLs.label          = Locations
+pref.initialURLs.help           = A list of locations (irc: and ircs: URLs) to which ChatZilla should connect when starting. These will not be processed if ChatZilla was started by clicking on a hyperlink.
+pref.initialScripts.label       = Script files
+pref.initialScripts.help        = A list of script files (file: URLs) for ChatZilla to load when it starts. URLs may be relative to the profile directory. If a URL points to a directory, "init.js" from that directory and each subdirectory is loaded.
 pref.inputSpellcheck.label      = Spellcheck the inputbox
 pref.inputSpellcheck.help       = Whether or not the inputbox will be spellchecked. Only works on recent &brandShortName; builds.
 pref.link.focus.label           = Focus browser when opening links
@@ -1683,8 +1683,8 @@
 pref.group.dcc.autoAccept.label        = Auto-accept
 pref.group.munger.label                = Formatting
 pref.group.startup.label                = Startup
-pref.group.startup.initialURLs.label    = Auto-connect URLs
-pref.group.startup.initialScripts.label = Auto-load scripts
+pref.group.startup.initialURLs.label    = Locations
+pref.group.startup.initialScripts.label = Script files
 pref.group.lists.label                 = Lists
 pref.group.lists.stalkWords.label      = Stalk words
 pref.group.lists.aliases.label         = Command aliases
diff --git a/xul/content/static.js b/xul/content/static.js
--- a/xul/content/static.js
+++ b/xul/content/static.js
@@ -781,15 +781,25 @@
     var baseURL = client.iosvc.newURI(basePath, null, null);
     for (var i = 0; i < scripts.length; ++i)
     {
-        var url = client.iosvc.newURI(scripts[i], null, baseURL);
+        try
+        {
+            var url = client.iosvc.newURI(scripts[i], null, baseURL);
+            var path = getFileFromURLSpec(url.spec);
+        }
+        catch(ex)
+        {
+            var params = ["initialScripts", scripts[i]];
+            display(getMsg(MSG_ERR_INVALID_PREF, params), MT_ERROR);
+            dd(formatException(ex));
+            continue;
+        }
+
         if (url.scheme != "file" && url.scheme != "chrome")
         {
             display(getMsg(MSG_ERR_INVALID_SCHEME, scripts[i]), MT_ERROR);
             continue;
         }
 
-        var path = getFileFromURLSpec(url.spec);
-
         if (!path.exists())
         {
             display(getMsg(MSG_ERR_ITEM_NOT_FOUND, url.spec), MT_WARN);
@@ -4638,6 +4648,19 @@
     else if (o.server && "me" in o.server)
         me = o.server.me;
 
+    /* Allow for matching (but not identical) user objects here. This tends to
+     * happen with bouncers and proxies, when they send channel messages
+     * pretending to be from the user; the sourceObj is a CIRCChanUser
+     * instead of a CIRCUser so doesn't == 'me'.
+     */
+    if (me)
+    {
+        if (sourceObj && (sourceObj.canonicalName == me.canonicalName))
+            sourceObj = me;
+        if (destObj && (destObj.canonicalName == me.canonicalName))
+            destObj = me;
+    }
+
     // Let callers get away with "ME!" and we have to substitute here.
     if (sourceObj == "ME!")
         sourceObj = me;