diff --git a/plugins/relay.py b/plugins/relay.py
index 619a158..153fdb7 100644
--- a/plugins/relay.py
+++ b/plugins/relay.py
@@ -407,9 +407,11 @@ def spawn_relay_user(irc, remoteirc, user, times_tagged=0, reuse_sid=None):
     # Truncate idents at 10 characters, because TS6 won't like them otherwise!
     ident = ident[:10]
 
-    # HACK: hybrid will reject idents that start with a "-". why???
-    if remoteirc.protoname == 'hybrid' and ident.startswith('-'):
-        ident = 'r' + ident
+    # HACK: hybrid will reject idents that start with a symbol
+    if remoteirc.protoname == 'hybrid':
+        goodchars = tuple(string.ascii_letters + string.digits + '~')
+        if not ident.startswith(goodchars):
+            ident = 'r' + ident
 
     # Normalize hostnames
     host = normalize_host(remoteirc, userobj.host)