diff --git a/groupchatbot/bot.py b/groupchatbot/bot.py
index 07e23e7..d2318b8 100644
--- a/groupchatbot/bot.py
+++ b/groupchatbot/bot.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ PASS = '34a77e61000b2ba1f56201332ef64d93f9cdc60e63ab48bc255102586ef7e592'
 WRONG_LOGIN_BAN_DURATION = 30
 USERS_NAME = "hswroconference:users"
 BANNED_NAME = "hswroconference:banned"
+ALLOWED_NAME_CHARS = ['_', '-', '/']  # this + .isalnum()
 
 
 def check_password(password: str) -> bool:
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ def check_banned(r, userhash):
 def check_name(username: str) -> bool:
     if len(username) >= 16:
         return False
-    return all(map(lambda c: c.isalnum(), username))
+    return all(map(lambda c: c.isalnum() or c in ALLOWED_NAME_CHARS, username))
 
 
 def handle_login(msg, r, from_known_sender, known_senders: Iterable):
@@ -94,7 +95,7 @@ def handle_whoami(msg, _, from_known_sender, known_senders: Iterable):
     assert False
 
 
-def handle_help(msg, _, __, ___):
+def handle_help(msg, _=None, __=None, ___=None):
     msg.reply("""Supported commands:
 /login [NICK] [PASSWORD] - Logs user in. Partyline messages will be sent.
 /logout - Logs user out. Partyline messages will stop.