Character count

The character count for messages is not accurate. This has been a problem for me several times now. I just typed up a message that the program said was 998 characters long. This should have been within the 1,000 character limit. I subsequently looked at my sent messages and 5 characters had been trimmed off my message. This is an outrage! I know in my heart that people want to hear every syllable of my ponderous pontificating. I demand to be compensated for those 5 missing characters!