diff --git a/src/infrastructure/daemon/irc/handler/PhabricatorIRCHandler.php b/src/infrastructure/daemon/irc/handler/PhabricatorIRCHandler.php
index 40622be1cc..6a8fe55e4a 100644
--- a/src/infrastructure/daemon/irc/handler/PhabricatorIRCHandler.php
+++ b/src/infrastructure/daemon/irc/handler/PhabricatorIRCHandler.php
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ abstract class PhabricatorIRCHandler {
   }
 
   final protected function isChannelName($name) {
-    return (strpos($name, '#') === 0);
+    return (strncmp($name, '#', 1) === 0);
   }
 
   abstract public function receiveMessage(PhabricatorIRCMessage $message);