lib/PublicInbox/View.pm | 3 ++-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
index 748e6680cb23e1be60f5b59bc2d8e6fdb2fe4fba..9237f32309e4f0ff3ba908359a01a90ef2cdc86d 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ }
 
 sub trim_message_id {
 	my ($mid) = @_;
-	$mid =~ tr/<>//d;
+	$mid =~ s/\A<//;
+	$mid =~ s/>\z//;
 	my $html = escapeHTML($mid);
 	my $href = escapeHTML(uri_escape($mid));