diff --git a/src/node/db/PadManager.js b/src/node/db/PadManager.js
index 5e0af4643..2be9da369 100644
--- a/src/node/db/PadManager.js
+++ b/src/node/db/PadManager.js
@@ -146,12 +146,12 @@ exports.getPad = function(id, text, callback)
   else
   {
     pad = new Pad(id);
-    
+
     //initalize the pad
     pad.init(text, function(err)
     {
       if(ERR(err, callback)) return;
-      
+      console.warn(pad); 
       globalPads.set(id, pad);
       callback(null, pad);
     });
diff --git a/src/node/utils/ExportTxt.js b/src/node/utils/ExportTxt.js
index 462583d3a..c236df479 100644
--- a/src/node/utils/ExportTxt.js
+++ b/src/node/utils/ExportTxt.js
@@ -236,6 +236,10 @@ function getTXTFromAtext(pad, atext, authorColors)
         //removes the characters with the code 12. Don't know where they come 
         //from but they break the abiword parser and are completly useless
         s = s.replace(String.fromCharCode(12), "");
+
+        // remove * from s, it's just not needed on a blank line..  This stops
+        // plugins from being able to display * at the beginning of a line
+        s = s.replace("*", "");
         
         // assem.append(_encodeWhitespace(Security.escapeHTML(s)));
         assem.append(_encodeWhitespace(s));