diff --git a/inc/api.php b/inc/api.php
index b280c25b..0ebaaf22 100644
--- a/inc/api.php
+++ b/inc/api.php
@@ -111,10 +111,10 @@ class Api {
 		if ($threadsPage) return $apiPost;
 
 		// Handle country field
-		if (isset($post->body_nomarkup) && $this->config['country_flags']) {
+		if (isset($post->body_nomarkup) && ($this->config['country_flags'] || $this->config['user_flag'])) {
 			$modifiers = extract_modifiers($post->body_nomarkup);
-			if (isset($modifiers['flag']) && isset($modifiers['flag alt']) && preg_match('/^[a-z]{2}$/', $modifiers['flag'])) {
-				$country = strtoupper($modifiers['flag']);
+			if (isset($modifiers['flag']) && isset($modifiers['flag alt']) && preg_match('/^[1-9a-z_-]{2,}$/', $modifiers['flag'])) {
+				$country = strtolower($modifiers['flag']);
 				if ($country) {
 					$apiPost['country'] = $country;
 					$apiPost['country_name'] = $modifiers['flag alt'];
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ class Api {
 				$extra_files = array();
 				foreach ($post->files as $i => $f) {
 					if ($i == 0) continue;
-				
+
 					$extra_file = array();
 					$this->translateFile($f, $post, $extra_file);
 
diff --git a/inc/instance-config.php b/inc/instance-config.php
old mode 100644
new mode 100755