diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Server/MasterServerQuery.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Server/MasterServerQuery.cs
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 5f32de64a0..b9d2383c08
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Server/MasterServerQuery.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Server/MasterServerQuery.cs
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ using System.Net;
 using System.Text;
 using System.Threading;
 using OpenRA.FileFormats;
+using OpenRA.Widgets;
 
 namespace OpenRA.Server
 {
@@ -23,7 +24,8 @@ namespace OpenRA.Server
 		public static event Action<string> OnVersion = _ => { };
 
 		static GameServer[] Games = { };
-		static string Version = "";
+		public static string ClientVersion = "";
+		public static string ServerVersion = "";
 		static AutoResetEvent ev = new AutoResetEvent(false);
 		static AutoResetEvent ev2 = new AutoResetEvent(false);
 
@@ -49,12 +51,35 @@ namespace OpenRA.Server
 			}).Start();
 		}
 
+		public static void GetMOTD(string masterServerUrl)
+		{
+			new Thread(() =>
+			{
+				var motd = Widget.RootWidget.GetWidget<ScrollingTextWidget>("MOTD_SCROLLER");
+				if (motd != null)
+				{
+					try
+					{
+						motd.Text = GetData(new Uri(masterServerUrl + "motd.php?v=" + ClientVersion));
+						motd.ResetScroll();
+					}
+					catch
+					{
+						motd.Text = "Welcome to OpenRA. MOTD unable to be loaded from server.";
+						motd.ResetScroll();
+					}
+				}
+
+				ev.Set();
+			}).Start();
+		}
+
 		public static void Tick()
 		{
 			if (ev.WaitOne(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(0))) 
 				OnComplete(Games);
 			if (ev2.WaitOne(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(0)))
-				OnVersion(Version);
+				OnVersion(ServerVersion);
 		}
 
 		static string GetData(Uri uri)
@@ -70,11 +95,11 @@ namespace OpenRA.Server
 				{
 					try
 					{
-						Version = GetData(new Uri(masterServerUrl + "VERSION"));
+						ServerVersion = GetData(new Uri(masterServerUrl + "VERSION"));
 					}
 					catch
 					{
-						Version = "";
+						ServerVersion = "";
 					}
 
 					ev2.Set();
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/Delegates/MainMenuButtonsDelegate.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/Delegates/MainMenuButtonsDelegate.cs
index 31cf6032df..cdde6400c1 100755
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/Delegates/MainMenuButtonsDelegate.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/Delegates/MainMenuButtonsDelegate.cs
@@ -29,8 +29,6 @@ namespace OpenRA.Widgets.Delegates
 
 			var version = widget.GetWidget<LabelWidget>("VERSION_STRING");
 
-			var motd = widget.GetWidget<ScrollingTextWidget>("MOTD_SCROLLER");
-
 			if (FileSystem.Exists("VERSION"))
 			{
 				var s = FileSystem.Open("VERSION");
@@ -43,29 +41,9 @@ namespace OpenRA.Widgets.Delegates
 			{
 				version.Text = "Dev Build";
 			}
+			MasterServerQuery.ClientVersion = version.Text;
 
-			if (motd != null)
-			{
-				motd.Text = "Welcome to OpenRA. MOTD unable to be loaded from server.";
-
-				string URL = "http://open-ra.org/master/motd.php?v=" + version.Text;
-
-				WebRequest req = WebRequest.Create(URL);
-				StreamReader reader = null;
-				try
-				{
-					reader = new StreamReader(req.GetResponse().GetResponseStream());
-				}
-				catch (WebException e)
-				{
-					reader.Close();
-					return;
-				}
-				var result = reader.ReadToEnd();
-				reader.Close();
-				
-				motd.Text = result;
-			}
+			MasterServerQuery.GetMOTD(Game.Settings.Server.MasterServer);
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/ScrollingTextWidget.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/ScrollingTextWidget.cs
index ca54b92b69..448e8813f4 100755
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/ScrollingTextWidget.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Widgets/ScrollingTextWidget.cs
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@ namespace OpenRA.Widgets
 			UpdateScrollBuffer();
 		}
 
+		public void ResetScroll()
+		{
+			ScrollLocation = 0;
+			ScrollTick = 0;
+		}
+
 		private void UpdateScrollBuffer()
 		{
 			ScrollTick++;