diff --git a/lib/parse_message.js b/lib/parse_message.js
index aa2b316d..00a8a2c9 100644
--- a/lib/parse_message.js
+++ b/lib/parse_message.js
@@ -23,7 +23,15 @@ module.exports = function parseMessage(line, stripColors) {
     if (match) {
         message.prefix = match[1];
         line = line.replace(/^:[^ ]+ +/, '');
-        match = message.prefix.match(/^([_a-zA-Z0-9\[\]\\`^{}|-]*)(!([^@]+)@(.*))?$/);
+
+        // Allow . (dot), : (colon) and / (slash) in the nickname for compatibility
+        // with certain substandard IRC implementations (like the PSYC's built-in IRC gate).
+        // However, only allow those characters when we are sure that we are not taking
+        // a server hostname for a nick (otherwise any server hostname would get misparsed
+        // as a nick without !user@host).
+
+        match = message.prefix.match(/^([_a-zA-Z0-9\[\]\\`^{}|-]*)(!([^@]+)@(.*))?$/) ||
+                message.prefix.match(/^([_a-zA-Z0-9\[\]\\`^{}|:./-]*)(!([^@]+)@(.*))$/);
         if (match) {
             message.nick = match[1];
             message.user = match[3];