This seems like a convenience feature request. We have a switch to make the socket an SSL connection, and now that scripts are using it, why change it?
Not to mention, what you are asking can be done in one line of code:
alias sockopen !sockopen $regsubex($1-,/^((?:-[^ ]*)?)(.*)\+(\d+)$/,$iif(\1,$v1 $+ $iif(e !isin $v1,e),-e) \2 \3)