diff --git a/install-mm3.sh b/install-mm3.sh
index f807cb0..d773629 100755
--- a/install-mm3.sh
+++ b/install-mm3.sh
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ IP=`ip route get 1.1.1.1| head -n 1 | cut -d ' ' -f 7`
 sed -i "s|root@localhost|webmaster@$FQDN|g" /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.py
 sed -i "s|MAILMAN_ARCHIVER_FROM = ('127.0.0.1', '::1')|MAILMAN_ARCHIVER_FROM = ('127.0.0.1', '::1', '$IP')|g" /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.py
 sed -i "s|'django_mailman3.lib.auth.fedora',|#'django_mailman3.lib.auth.fedora',|g" /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.py
+# the multiple slashes in the append are for adding spaces
+sed -i "/'OPTIONS': {/a \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ 'charset': 'utf8mb4'," /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.py
+sed -i "/'OPTIONS': {/a \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ # use utf8mb4, which is what the tables should already be set to" /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.py
 sed -i 's|# SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER =|SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER =|g' /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.py
 sed -i "s|TIME_ZONE =.*|TIME_ZONE = '$TIMEZONE'|g" /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.py
 sed -i "s|localhost.local|$FQDN|g" /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.py