diff --git a/bot/nickserv.go b/bot/nickserv.go
index 1c3d6f9..e38f6e4 100644
--- a/bot/nickserv.go
+++ b/bot/nickserv.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 package bot
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"regexp"
@@ -25,10 +24,7 @@ func nickserv(output chan irc.Message, msg irc.Message) {
 		regexStr = "^This nickname is registered"
 	}
 
-	buffer := new(bytes.Buffer)
-	buffer.WriteString(msg.Trailing)
-
-	b, err := regexp.Match(regexStr, buffer.Bytes())
+	b, err := regexp.Match(regexStr, []byte(msg.Trailing))
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Println("Context:", msg.Context, "NickServ regex error:", err)
 		return
@@ -57,10 +53,7 @@ func joinsecuredchannels(output chan irc.Message, msg irc.Message) {
 		regexStr = "^You are now identified"
 	}
 
-	buffer := new(bytes.Buffer)
-	buffer.WriteString(msg.Trailing)
-
-	b, err := regexp.Match(regexStr, buffer.Bytes())
+	b, err := regexp.Match(regexStr, []byte(msg.Trailing))
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Println("Context:", msg.Context, "NickServ regex error:", err)
 		return
diff --git a/irc/message.go b/irc/message.go
index 27cafc0..2f8971a 100644
--- a/irc/message.go
+++ b/irc/message.go
@@ -94,13 +94,6 @@ func (p *Prefix) Len() (length int) {
 	return
 }
 
-// Bytes returns a []byte representation of this prefix.
-func (p *Prefix) Bytes() []byte {
-	buffer := new(bytes.Buffer)
-	p.writeTo(buffer)
-	return buffer.Bytes()
-}
-
 // String returns a string representation of this prefix.
 func (p *Prefix) String() (s string) {
 	// Benchmarks revealed that in this case simple string concatenation