diff --git a/indra/llui/lltexteditor.h b/indra/llui/lltexteditor.h
index 1bac9702c..8aa058936 100644
--- a/indra/llui/lltexteditor.h
+++ b/indra/llui/lltexteditor.h
@@ -415,8 +415,10 @@ protected:
 	S32 			removeChar(S32 pos);
 	void			removeWord(bool prev);
 	S32				insert(const S32 pos, const LLWString &wstr, const BOOL group_with_next_op);
+public:
 	S32				remove(const S32 pos, const S32 length, const BOOL group_with_next_op);
-	
+protected:
+
 	// Direct operations
 	S32				insertStringNoUndo(S32 pos, const LLWString &wstr); // returns num of chars actually inserted
 	S32 			removeStringNoUndo(S32 pos, S32 length);
diff --git a/indra/newview/llimpanel.cpp b/indra/newview/llimpanel.cpp
index c708c056e..6851a476a 100644
--- a/indra/newview/llimpanel.cpp
+++ b/indra/newview/llimpanel.cpp
@@ -1490,11 +1490,7 @@ void LLFloaterIMPanel::sessionInitReplyReceived(const LLUUID& session_id)
 	mVoiceChannel->updateSessionID(session_id);
 	mSessionInitialized = true;
 
-	//we assume the history editor hasn't moved at all since
-	//we added the starting session message
-	//so, we count how many characters to remove
-	S32 chars_to_remove = mHistoryEditor->getWText().length() - mSessionStartMsgPos;
-	mHistoryEditor->removeTextFromEnd(chars_to_remove);
+	mHistoryEditor->remove(mSessionStartMsgPos, sSessionStartString.size(), true);
 
 	//and now, send the queued msg
 	for (LLSD::array_iterator iter = mQueuedMsgsForInit.beginArray();