Is this in response to a previous form invocation, and was there a field named MESSAGE in the form being submitted? If so, read up on "sticky fields", which are normally a blessing, but occasionally a distraction for tasks like yours. Here's the part of the doc you should focus on:

       Another note The default values that you specify for the
       forms are only used the first time the script is invoked
       (when there is no query string).  On subsequent invoca-
       tions of the script (when there is a query string), the
       former values are used even if they are blank.

       If you want to change the value of a field from its previ-
       ous value, you have two choices:

       (1) call the param() method to set it.

       (2) use the -override (alias -force) parameter (a new fea-
       ture in version 2.15).  This forces the default value to
       be used, regardless of the previous value:

          print $query->textfield(-name=>'field_name',
                                  -default=>'starting value',
                                  -override=>1,
                                  -size=>50,
                                  -maxlength=>80);
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-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker