diff --git a/src/topics/tags.js b/src/topics/tags.js
index 63e67eddd4..9326f6fddb 100644
--- a/src/topics/tags.js
+++ b/src/topics/tags.js
@@ -32,12 +32,12 @@ module.exports = function(Topics) {
 
 	function cleanUpTag(tag) {
 		tag = tag.trim().toLowerCase();
+		tag = tag.replace(/[\.,\/#!$%\^&\*;:{}=_`<>'"~()?\|]/g, '');
+		tag = tag.substr(0, meta.config.maximumTagLength || 15);
 		var matches = tag.match(/^-*(.+?)-*$/);
 		if (matches && matches.length > 1) {
 			tag = matches[1];
 		}
-		tag = tag.replace(/[\.,\/#!$%\^&\*;:{}=_`<>'"~()?\|]/g, '');
-		tag = tag.substr(0, meta.config.maximumTagLength || 15);
 		return tag;
 	}