diff --git a/shares.py b/shares.py
index 56ebb2080..cf0376917 100644
--- a/shares.py
+++ b/shares.py
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ def getValidSharedItemID(actor: str, displayName: str) -> str:
     displayName = displayName.replace("’", "'")
     actor = actor.replace('://', '___')
     actor = actor.replace('/', '--')
-    return actor + '#shareditems#' + displayName
+    return actor + '--shareditems--' + displayName
 
 
 def removeSharedItem(baseDir: str, nickname: str, domain: str,
diff --git a/webapp_utils.py b/webapp_utils.py
index e7984e454..8573c8a15 100644
--- a/webapp_utils.py
+++ b/webapp_utils.py
@@ -382,8 +382,8 @@ def sharesTimelineJson(actor: str, pageNumber: int, itemsPerPage: int,
                     for itemID, item in sharesJson.items():
                         # assign owner to the item
                         shareActor = ''
-                        if '#shareditems#' in itemID:
-                            shareActor = itemID.split('#shareditems#')[0]
+                        if '--shareditems--' in itemID:
+                            shareActor = itemID.split('--shareditems--')[0]
                             shareActor = shareActor.replace('___', '://')
                             shareActor = shareActor.replace('--', '/')
                         item['actor'] = shareActor