diff --git a/changelog.md b/CHANGELOG.md
similarity index 65%
rename from changelog.md
rename to CHANGELOG.md
index a901050..dc57926 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,13 +4,14 @@
 
 ### Added
 
-- New logging class to handle logging
 - Added togglable YouTube mode
     - Converts full URLs to YouTube share URLs
     - Checks against both YouTube full and share URLs to ensure same video not posted twice
+- New logging class to handle logging
 
 ### Changed
+- Major refactor of a significant portion of the bot's code - should be easier to maintain now, but may have introduced some new bugs
 - Changed expected name for bot config file to bot-config.json rather than botConfig.json
 
 ### Fixed
-- New timer being created every time the bot reconnected
\ No newline at end of file
+- New timer being created every time the bot reconnected
diff --git a/feed-bot.js b/feed-bot.js
index 4b97c88..30b05c0 100644
--- a/feed-bot.js
+++ b/feed-bot.js
@@ -1,184 +1,208 @@
+//external library imports
 var Dns = require("dns"); //for connectivity checking
 var Url = require("url"); //for url parsing
 var Uri = require("urijs"); //for finding urls within message strings
 var Discord = require("discord.io"); //for obvious reasons
 var FeedRead = require("feed-read"); //for rss feed reading
+
+//my imports
+var Log = require("./log.js"); //some very simple logging functions I made
 var BotConfig = require("./bot-config.json"); //bot config file containing bot token
 var Config = require("./config.json"); //config file containing other settings
-var Log = require("./log.js"); //some very simple logging functions I made
 
-//get a URL object from the feedUrl so we can examine it and check connectivity later
-var url = Url.parse(Config.feedUrl);
+var IS_FIRST_RUN = true;
 
-//placeholder for our bot - we need to check for connectivity before assigning this though
-var bot;
-var timer = false;
-var latestFeedLink = "";
-var linkRegExp = new RegExp(["http", "https", "www"].join("|"));
-var cachedLinks = [];
+var Bot = {
+	bot: null,
+	startup: function () {
+		//check if we can connect to discordapp.com to authenticate the bot
+		Dns.resolve("discordapp.com", function (err) {
+			if (err) Log.error("CONNECTION ERROR: Unable to locate discordapp.com to authenticate the bot (you are probably not connected to the internet).", err);
+			else {
+				//if there was no error, go ahead and create and authenticate the bot
+				Bot.bot = new Discord.Client({
+					token: BotConfig.token,
+					autorun: true
+				});
 
-var youtubeShareUrl = "http://youtu.be/";
-var youtubeFullUrl = "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=";
-
-//caches a link so we can check again later
-function cacheLink(link) {
-	//cheaty way to get around http and https not matching
-	link = link.replace("https://", "http://");
-	//store the new link if not stored already
-	if (!cachedLinks.includes(link)) {
-		cachedLinks.push(link);
-		Log.info("Cached URL: " + link);
-	}
-	//get rid of the first array element if we have reached our cache limit
-	if (cachedLinks.length > (Config.numLinksToCache || 10))
-		cachedLinks.shift();
-}
-
-function checkCache(link) {
-	if (Config.youtubeMode && link.includes(youtubeFullUrl)) {
-		return cachedLinks.includes(convertToYoutubeShareUrl(link));
-	}
-	return cachedLinks.includes(link);
-}
-
-function convertToYoutubeShareUrl(fullUrl) {
-	var shareUrl = fullUrl.replace(youtubeFullUrl, youtubeShareUrl);
-	var ampersandIdx = shareUrl.indexOf("&");
-	if (ampersandIdx > -1)
-		return shareUrl.slice(0, ampersandIdx);
-	else
-		return shareUrl;
-}
-
-//check if we can connect to discordapp.com to authenticate the bot
-Dns.resolve("discordapp.com", function (err) {
-	if (err) Log.error("CONNECTION ERROR: Unable to locate discordapp.com to authenticate the bot (you are probably not connected to the internet).", err);
-	else {
-		//if there was no error, go ahead and create and authenticate the bot
-		bot = new Discord.Client({
-			token: BotConfig.token,
-			autorun: true
+				//set up the bot's event handlers
+				Bot.bot.on("ready", Bot.onReady);
+				Bot.bot.on("disconnect", Bot.onDisconnect);
+				Bot.bot.on("message", Bot.onMessage);
+			}
 		});
+	},
+	onReady: function () {
+		if (IS_FIRST_RUN) {
+			IS_FIRST_RUN = false;
 
-		//when the bot is ready, set a polling interval for the rss feed
-		bot.on("ready", function () {
-			Log.info("Registered bot " + bot.username + " - (" + bot.id + ")");
-
-			//as we don't have any links cached, we need to check recent messages
-			checkPreviousMessagesForLinks();
-
+			Log.info("Registered bot " + Bot.bot.username + " - (" + Bot.bot.id + ")");
 			Log.info("Setting up timer to check feed every " + Config.pollingInterval + " milliseconds");
 
-			if (!timer) {
-				setInterval(checkFeedAndPost, Config.pollingInterval);
-				timer = true;
-			}
-		});
-
-		bot.on("disconnect", function (err, code) {
-			//do a bunch of logging
-			Log.event("Bot was disconnected! " + code ? code : "No disconnect code provided", "Discord.io");
-			if (err) Log.error("Bot disconnected!", err);
-			Log.info("Trying to reconnect bot");
-
-			//then actually attempt to reconnect
-			bot.connect();
-		});
-
-		bot.on("message", function (user, userID, channelID, message) {
-			//check if the message contains a link, in the right channel, and not the latest link from the rss feed
-			if (channelID === Config.channelID && linkRegExp.test(message) && (message !== latestFeedLink)) {
-				Log.event("Detected posted link in this message: " + message, "Discord.io");
-				//detect the url inside the string, and cache it
-				Uri.withinString(message, function (url) {
-					cacheLink(url);
-					return url;
-				});
-			}
-		});
-	}
-});
-
-function checkFeedAndPost() {
-	//check that we have an internet connection (well not exactly - check that we have a connection to the host of the feedUrl)
-	Dns.resolve(url.host, function (err) {
-		if (err) Log.error("CONNECTION ERROR: Cannot resolve host (you are probably not connected to the internet)", err);
-		else FeedRead(Config.feedUrl, checkLinkAndPost);
-	});
-}
-
-//checks if the link has been posted previously, posts if not
-function checkLinkAndPost(err, articles) {
-	if (err) Log.error("FEED ERROR: Error reading RSS feed.", err);
-	else {
-		//get the latest link and check if it has already been posted and cached
-		var latestLink = articles[0].link.replace("https", "http");
-
-		//check whether the latest link out the feed exists in our cache
-		if (!checkCache(latestLink)) {
-			if (Config.youtubeMode && latestLink.includes(youtubeFullUrl))
-				latestLink = convertToYoutubeShareUrl(latestLink);
-			Log.info("Attempting to post new link: " + latestLink);
-
-			//send a messsage containing the new feed link to our discord channel
-			bot.sendMessage({
-				to: Config.channelID,
-				message: latestLink
-			}, function (err, message) {
-				if (err) {
-					Log.error("ERROR: Failed to send message: " + message.substring(0, 15) + "...", err);
-					//if there is an error posting the message, check if it is because the bot isn't connected
-					if (bot.connected)
-						Log.info("Connectivity seems fine - I have no idea why the message didn't post");
-					else {
-						Log.error("Bot appears to be disconnected! Attempting to reconnect...", err);
-
-						//attempt to reconnect
-						bot.connect();
-					}
-				}
-			});
-
-			//finally make sure the link is cached, so it doesn't get posted again
-			cacheLink(latestLink);
+			//set up the timer to check the feed
+			setInterval(Feed.checkAndPost, Config.pollingInterval);
 		}
-		else if (latestFeedLink != latestLink)
-			//alternatively, if we have a new link from the feed, but its been posted already, just alert the console
-			Log.info("Didn't post new feed link because already detected as posted " + latestLink);
-
-		//ensure our latest feed link variable is up to date, so we can track when the feed updates
-		latestFeedLink = latestLink;
-	}
-}
-
-//gets last 100 messages and extracts any links found (for use on startup)
-function checkPreviousMessagesForLinks() {
-	var limit = 100;
-	Log.info("Attempting to check past " + limit + " messages for links");
-
-	//get the last however many messsages from our discord channel
-	bot.getMessages({
-		channelID: Config.channelID,
-		limit: limit
-	}, function (err, messages) {
-		if (err) Log.error("Error fetching discord messages.", err);
 		else {
-			Log.info("Pulled last " + messages.length + " messages, scanning for links");
-
-			//extract an array of strings from the array of message objects
-			var messageContents = messages.map((x) => { return x.content; }).reverse();
-
-			for (var messageIdx in messageContents) {
-				var message = messageContents[messageIdx];
-
-				//test if the message contains a url
-				if (linkRegExp.test(message))
-					//detect the url inside the string, and cache it
-					Uri.withinString(message, function (url) {
-						cacheLink(url);
-						return url;
-					});
-			}
+			Log.info("Bot reconnected!");
 		}
-	});
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+
+		//we need to check past messages for links on startup, but also on reconnect because we don't know what has happened during the downtime
+		Bot.checkPastMessagesForLinks();
+	},
+	onDisconnect: function (err, code) {
+		//do a bunch of logging
+		Log.event("Bot was disconnected! " + code ? code : "No disconnect code provided", "Discord.io");
+		if (err) Log.error("Bot disconnected!", err);
+		Log.info("Trying to reconnect bot");
+
+		//then actually attempt to reconnect
+		Bot.bot.connect();
+	},
+	onMessage: function (user, userID, channelID, message) {
+		//check if the message contains a link, in the right channel, and not the latest link from the rss feed
+		if (channelID === Config.channelID && Links.regExp.test(message) && (message !== Links.latestFromFeed)) {
+			Log.event("Detected posted link in this message: " + message, "Discord.io");
+			//detect the url inside the string, and cache it
+			Uri.withinString(message, function (url) {
+				Links.cache(url);
+				return url;
+			});
+		}
+	},
+	//gets last 100 messages and extracts any links found (for use on startup)
+	checkPastMessagesForLinks: function () {
+		var limit = 100;
+		Log.info("Attempting to check past " + limit + " messages for links");
+
+		//get the last however many messsages from our discord channel
+		Bot.bot.getMessages({
+			channelID: Config.channelID,
+			limit: limit
+		}, function (err, messages) {
+			if (err) Log.error("Error fetching discord messages.", err);
+			else {
+				Log.info("Pulled last " + messages.length + " messages, scanning for links");
+
+				//extract an array of strings from the array of message objects
+				var messageContents = messages.map((x) => { return x.content; }).reverse();
+
+				for (var messageIdx in messageContents) {
+					var message = messageContents[messageIdx];
+
+					//test if the message contains a url
+					if (Links.regExp.test(message))
+						//detect the url inside the string, and cache it
+						Uri.withinString(message, function (url) {
+							Links.cache(url);
+							return url;
+						});
+				}
+			}
+		});
+	}
+};
+
+var YouTube = {
+	url: {
+		share: "http://youtu.be/",
+		full: "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=",
+		convertShareToFull: function (shareUrl) {
+			return shareUrl.replace(YouTube.url.share, YouTube.url.full);
+		},
+		convertFullToShare: function (fullUrl) {
+			var shareUrl = fullUrl.replace(YouTube.url.full, YouTube.url.share);
+
+			if (shareUrl.includes("&"))
+				shareUrl = shareUrl.slice(0, fullUrl.indexOf("&"));
+
+			return shareUrl;
+		}
+	},
+};
+
+var Links = {
+	regExp: new RegExp(["http", "https", "www"].join("|")),
+	cached: [],
+	latestFromFeed: "",
+	cache: function (link) {
+		//cheaty way to get around http and https not matching
+		link = link.replace("https://", "http://");
+
+		if(Config.youtubeMode && link.includes(YouTube.url.full)){
+			link = YouTube.url.convertFullToShare(link);
+		}
+
+		//store the new link if not stored already
+		if (!Links.cached.includes(link)) {
+			Links.cached.push(link);
+			Log.info("Cached URL: " + link);
+		}
+		//get rid of the first array element if we have reached our cache limit
+		if (Links.cached.length > (Config.numLinksToCache || 10))
+			Links.cached.shift();
+	},
+	checkCache: function (link) {
+		if (Config.youtubeMode && link.includes(link)) {
+			return Links.cached.includes(YouTube.url.convertFullToShare(link));
+		}
+		return Links.cached.includes(link);
+	},
+	validateAndPost: function (err, articles) {
+		if (err) Log.error("FEED ERROR: Error reading RSS feed.", err);
+		else {
+			//get the latest link and check if it has already been posted and cached
+			var latestLink = articles[0].link.replace("https", "http");
+
+			//check whether the latest link out the feed exists in our cache
+			if (!Links.checkCache(latestLink)) {
+				if (Config.youtubeMode && latestLink.includes(YouTube.url.full))
+					latestLink = YouTube.url.convertFullToShare(latestLink);
+				Log.info("Attempting to post new link: " + latestLink);
+
+				//send a messsage containing the new feed link to our discord channel
+				Bot.bot.sendMessage({
+					to: Config.channelID,
+					message: latestLink
+				}, function (err, message) {
+					if (err) {
+						Log.error("ERROR: Failed to send message: " + message.substring(0, 15) + "...", err);
+						//if there is an error posting the message, check if it is because the bot isn't connected
+						if (Bot.bot.connected)
+							Log.info("Connectivity seems fine - I have no idea why the message didn't post");
+						else {
+							Log.error("Bot appears to be disconnected! Attempting to reconnect...", err);
+
+							//attempt to reconnect
+							Bot.bot.connect();
+						}
+					}
+				});
+
+				//finally make sure the link is cached, so it doesn't get posted again
+				Links.cache(latestLink);
+			}
+			else if (Links.latestFromFeed != latestLink)
+				//alternatively, if we have a new link from the feed, but its been posted already, just alert the console
+				Log.info("Didn't post new feed link because already detected as posted " + latestLink);
+
+			//ensure our latest feed link variable is up to date, so we can track when the feed updates
+			Links.latestFromFeed = latestLink;
+		}
+	}
+};
+
+var Feed = {
+	urlObj: Url.parse(Config.feedUrl),
+	checkAndPost: function () {
+		//check that we have an internet connection (well not exactly - check that we have a connection to the host of the feedUrl)
+		Dns.resolve(Feed.urlObj.host, function (err) {
+			if (err) Log.error("CONNECTION ERROR: Cannot resolve host (you are probably not connected to the internet)", err);
+			else FeedRead(Config.feedUrl, Links.validateAndPost);
+		});
+	}
+};
+
+//IIFE to kickstart the bot when the app loads
+(function(){
+	Bot.startup();
+})();
\ No newline at end of file