diff --git a/static/chat/js/chat.js b/static/chat/js/chat.js
index e960b543a..3bb3bcdb5 100644
--- a/static/chat/js/chat.js
+++ b/static/chat/js/chat.js
@@ -593,14 +593,16 @@ chat.prototype.handleCommand = function(str) {
 			}
 			
 			nick = parts[1].toLowerCase();
-			if (command == "unhighlight") {
-				delete(highlightnicks[nick]);
-				this.gui.push(new ChatInfoMessage("No longer highlighting: " + nick));
-			} else {
+			var dohighlight = command == "highlight";
+			if (dohighlight) {
 				highlightnicks[nick] = true;
 				this.gui.push(new ChatInfoMessage("Now highlighting: " + nick));
+			} else {
+				delete(highlightnicks[nick]);
+				this.gui.push(new ChatInfoMessage("No longer highlighting: " + nick));
 			}
 			
+			this.gui.renewHighlight(nick, dohighlight);
 			this.gui.setPreference('highlightnicks', highlightnicks);
 			break;
 			
diff --git a/static/chat/js/gui.js b/static/chat/js/gui.js
index 95598b60d..95774e4b4 100644
--- a/static/chat/js/gui.js
+++ b/static/chat/js/gui.js
@@ -488,6 +488,13 @@
                 return;
             }
 
+            // parse backlog preliminarily to initialize nicks so the formatter will mark them as such (clickable)
+            for (var i = 0, j = this.backlog.length; i < j; i++){
+                var obj = JSON.parse(this.backlog[i].substring(this.backlog[i].indexOf(' ')));
+                if(obj.nick)
+                    this.engine.users[obj.nick] = "";
+            }
+
             for (var i = 0, j = this.backlog.length; i < j; i++)
                 this.engine.parseAndDispatch({
                     data: this.backlog[i]
@@ -708,6 +715,14 @@
             }
         },
 
+        renewHighlight: function(nick, dohighlight){
+            if (dohighlight){
+                this.lines.children('div[data-username="'+nick.toLowerCase()+'"]').addClass("highlight");
+            } else {
+                this.lines.children('div[data-username="'+nick.toLowerCase()+'"]').removeClass("highlight");
+            }
+        },
+
         handleHighlight: function(message){
             if (!message.user || !message.user.username || message.user.username == this.engine.user.username || !this.getPreference('highlight'))
                 return false;
@@ -1099,4 +1114,4 @@
     };
     // END EMOTE COUNT
 
-})(jQuery);
\ No newline at end of file
+})(jQuery);