diff --git a/lisp/doom-editor.el b/lisp/doom-editor.el
index 3f0048d60..ef017e516 100644
--- a/lisp/doom-editor.el
+++ b/lisp/doom-editor.el
@@ -560,7 +560,7 @@ on."
     :before-while #'so-long-statistics-excessive-p
     :before-while #'so-long-detected-long-line-p
     (not (or (doom-temp-buffer-p (current-buffer))
-             (doom-special-buffer-p (current-buffer)))))
+             (doom-special-buffer-p (current-buffer) t))))
 
   ;; Don't disable syntax highlighting and line numbers, or make the buffer
   ;; read-only, in `so-long-minor-mode', so we can have a basic editing
diff --git a/lisp/lib/buffers.el b/lisp/lib/buffers.el
index 7dc60bbc9..ad6afe336 100644
--- a/lisp/lib/buffers.el
+++ b/lisp/lib/buffers.el
@@ -83,15 +83,14 @@ If no project is active, return all buffers."
            finally return (hash-table-keys projects)))
 
 ;;;###autoload
-(defun doom-dired-buffer-p (buf)
-  "Returns non-nil if BUF is a dired buffer."
-  (provided-mode-derived-p (buffer-local-value 'major-mode buf)
-                           'dired-mode))
+(defun doom-special-buffer-p (buf &optional consider-mode?)
+  "Returns non-nil if BUF's name starts with an *.
 
-;;;###autoload
-(defun doom-special-buffer-p (buf)
-  "Returns non-nil if BUF's name starts and ends with an *."
-  (char-equal ?* (aref (buffer-name buf) 0)))
+If CONSIDER-MODE? is non-nil, returns non-nil if BUF's mode is derived from
+`special-mode'."
+  (or (char-equal ?* (aref (buffer-name buf) 0))
+      (and consider-mode?
+           (provided-mode-derived-p (buffer-local-value 'major-mode buf) 'special-mode))))
 
 ;;;###autoload
 (defun doom-temp-buffer-p (buf)
diff --git a/modules/ui/indent-guides/config.el b/modules/ui/indent-guides/config.el
index 9da0f8e5e..bd8e0c7e7 100644
--- a/modules/ui/indent-guides/config.el
+++ b/modules/ui/indent-guides/config.el
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ be enabled. If any function returns non-nil, the mode will not be activated."
       (and (not (derived-mode-p 'text-mode 'prog-mode 'conf-mode))
            (or buffer-read-only
                (bound-and-true-p cursor-intangible-mode)
-               (derived-mode-p 'special-mode))))
+               (doom-special-buffer-p (current-buffer) t))))
     ;; Org's virtual indentation messes up indent-guides.
     (defun +indent-guides-in-org-indent-mode-p ()
       (bound-and-true-p org-indent-mode))