$payload = json_decode($_POST['payload']); would always be empty

I had the above issue where $payload would always be null. 

Now, I just know just enough php to get myself into trouble but I was able to resolve it like so:

```
  $data = $_REQUEST["payload"];           
  $unescaped_data = stripslashes($data);
  $payload = json_decode($unescaped_data);
```

Obviously I could be opening up all kinds of issues but just wanted to make this visible.
