diff --git a/lib/Packages/DoShow.pm b/lib/Packages/DoShow.pm
index 58026e130095a2ff564d28b9f42607d0611ba863..cfe7a90f783ff8486ae74f909dc1b6ed06c6de36 100644
--- a/lib/Packages/DoShow.pm
+++ b/lib/Packages/DoShow.pm
@@ -126,9 +126,11 @@ sub do_show {
 			    # handle tags like devel::{lang:c,lang:c++}
 			    if ($tag =~ s/^\{(.+)\}$/$1/) {
 				foreach (split( /,/, $tag )) {
+				    next if $tag =~ /^special:/;
 				    push @tags, [ $facet, $_ ];
 				}
 			    } else {
+				next if $tag =~ /^special:/;
 				push @tags, [ $facet, $tag ];
 			    }
 			}