diff --git a/nyaa/routes.py b/nyaa/routes.py
index 129447e..77e9956 100644
--- a/nyaa/routes.py
+++ b/nyaa/routes.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from nyaa.search import search_elastic, search_db
 from sqlalchemy.orm import joinedload
 import config
 
+import re
 import json
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 from ipaddress import ip_address
@@ -181,14 +182,16 @@ def home(rss):
             flask.abort(404)
         user_id = user.id
 
+    user_query = {
+        'first_word_user': None,
+        'query_sans_user': None
+    }
     if search_term:
-        exploded_query = search_term.split(" ")
-        first_word_user = models.User.by_username(exploded_query[0].encode('ascii', 'ignore'))
-        exploded_query.pop(0)
-        query_sans_user = ' '.join(exploded_query)
-    else:
-        first_word_user = None
-        query_sans_user = None
+        user_word_match = re.match(r'^([a-zA-Z0-9_-]+) *(.*|$)', search_term)
+        if user_word_match:
+            first_word_username = user_word_match.group(1)
+            user_query['first_word_user'] = models.User.by_username(first_word_username)
+            user_query['query_sans_user'] = user_word_match.group(2)
 
     query_args = {
         'user': user_id,
@@ -201,10 +204,6 @@ def home(rss):
         'per_page': results_per_page
     }
 
-    user_query = {
-        'first_word_user': first_word_user,
-        'query_sans_user': query_sans_user
-    }
 
     if flask.g.user:
         query_args['logged_in_user'] = flask.g.user
diff --git a/nyaa/templates/search_results.html b/nyaa/templates/search_results.html
index 3ec6da9..df817ef 100644
--- a/nyaa/templates/search_results.html
+++ b/nyaa/templates/search_results.html
@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@
 {% endmacro %}
 
 {% if user_query is defined %}
-{% if user_query['first_word_user'] and not search['user'] %}
+{% if user_query.first_word_user and not search.user %}
 <div class="alert alert-info">
-	<a href="/user/{{ user_query['first_word_user'].username }}{{ modify_query(q=user_query['query_sans_user'])[1:] }}">Click here to see only results uploaded by {{ user_query['first_word_user'].username }}</a>
+	<a href="/user/{{ user_query.first_word_user.username }}{{ modify_query(q=user_query.query_sans_user)[1:] }}">Click here to see only results uploaded by {{ user_query.first_word_user.username }}</a>
 </div>
 {% endif %}
 {% endif %}