diff --git a/ircbot/bot.py b/ircbot/bot.py
index 260dc23..9f9d1cf 100644
--- a/ircbot/bot.py
+++ b/ircbot/bot.py
@@ -891,6 +891,12 @@ class IRCBot(irc.client.SimpleIRCClient):
             log.warning("reply() called with no event and no explicit target, aborting")
             return
 
+        # convert characters that don't make sense for Discord (like ^C^B)
+        if self.connection.server_config.replace_irc_control_with_markdown:
+            log.debug("old replystr: %s", replystr)
+            replystr = replystr.replace('\x02', '**')
+            log.debug("new replystr: %s", replystr)
+
         log.debug("replypath: %s", replypath)
 
         if replystr is not None:
diff --git a/ircbot/migrations/0018_ircserver_replace_irc_control_with_markdown.py b/ircbot/migrations/0018_ircserver_replace_irc_control_with_markdown.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..120330f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ircbot/migrations/0018_ircserver_replace_irc_control_with_markdown.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Generated by Django 3.1.2 on 2021-04-25 17:05
+
+from django.db import migrations, models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ('ircbot', '0017_ircchannel_server'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='ircserver',
+            name='replace_irc_control_with_markdown',
+            field=models.BooleanField(default=False),
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/ircbot/models.py b/ircbot/models.py
index 0effe57..e03cda5 100644
--- a/ircbot/models.py
+++ b/ircbot/models.py
@@ -84,6 +84,8 @@ class IrcServer(models.Model):
     xmlrpc_host = models.CharField(max_length=200, default='localhost')
     xmlrpc_port = models.PositiveSmallIntegerField(default=13132)
 
+    replace_irc_control_with_markdown = models.BooleanField(default=False)
+
     def __str__(self):
         """Provide string summary of the server."""
         return f"{self.name} ({self.hostname}/{self.port})"