diff --git a/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/GithubPasteService.java b/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/GitHubPasteService.java
similarity index 88%
rename from src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/GithubPasteService.java
rename to src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/GitHubPasteService.java
index fe7fafc4..f098e295 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/GithubPasteService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/GitHubPasteService.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.net.URLConnection;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -64,14 +65,18 @@ public class GithubPasteService implements PasteService {
         try {
             URLConnection conn = url.openConnection();
             conn.setDoOutput(true);
-            wr = new OutputStreamWriter(conn.getOutputStream());
+
+            // this isn't required, but is technically correct
+            conn.addRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json; charset=utf-8");
+
+            wr = new OutputStreamWriter(conn.getOutputStream(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
             wr.write(encodedData);
             wr.flush();
 
-            rd = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream()));
             String line;
             StringBuilder responseString = new StringBuilder();
-
+            // this has to be initialized AFTER the data has been flushed!
+            rd = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
             while ((line = rd.readLine()) != null) {
                 responseString.append(line);
             }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/HttpAPIClient.java b/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/HttpAPIClient.java
index 55d69c5c..962fa356 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/HttpAPIClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/HttpAPIClient.java
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.net.URLConnection;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 /**
  * HTTP API-client.
@@ -32,11 +33,11 @@ public abstract class HttpAPIClient {
         StringBuilder ret = new StringBuilder();
         BufferedReader reader = null;
         try {
-            reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream()));
+            reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
             while (!reader.ready()); // wait until reader is ready, may not be necessary, SUPPRESS CHECKSTYLE: EmptyStatement
 
             while (reader.ready()) {
-                ret.append(reader.readLine()).append('\n');
+                ret.append(reader.readLine()).append(System.lineSeparator());
             }
         } finally {
             if (reader != null) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/PastebinPasteService.java b/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/PastebinPasteService.java
index 7aeba797..c370c1d2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/PastebinPasteService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/onarandombox/MultiverseCore/utils/webpaste/PastebinPasteService.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.net.URLConnection;
 import java.net.URLEncoder;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 /**
@@ -65,13 +66,18 @@ public class PastebinPasteService implements PasteService {
         try {
             URLConnection conn = url.openConnection();
             conn.setDoOutput(true);
-            wr = new OutputStreamWriter(conn.getOutputStream());
+
+            // this isn't required, but is technically correct
+            conn.addRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=utf-8");
+
+            wr = new OutputStreamWriter(conn.getOutputStream(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
             wr.write(encodedData);
             wr.flush();
 
-            rd = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream()));
             String line;
             String pastebinUrl = "";
+            // this has to be initialized AFTER the data has been flushed!
+            rd = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
             while ((line = rd.readLine()) != null) {
                 pastebinUrl = line;
             }