# About category topic shows up before it is edited
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [March 26, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903 "2018-03-26T20:15:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Donald\_Swofford](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Donald_Swofford)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/1 "2018-03-26T20:15:13Z")
Whenever I create a new category the topic that says:
> (Replace this first paragraph with a brief description of your new category. This guidance will appear in the category selection area, so try to keep it below 200 characters. **Until you edit this description or create topics, this category won’t appear on the categories page.** )
Is showing to all users even guests
Version [v2.0.0.beta4 +182](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/compare/43f63c435d0098ffb0bc66c5544e026099818310...tests-passed) 2.0.0.beta4
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2018, 10:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/2 "2018-03-26T22:08:43Z")
Can you provide a screenshot illustrating what you mean?
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### Author:  [@Donald\_Swofford](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Donald_Swofford)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2018, 10:31pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/3 "2018-03-26T22:31:49Z")
Here is a screenshot of the newly created category
Here is a screenshot viewing the “About” topic.
As you can see in the upper right I’m not logged in but can see the default about the category and I have not edited it yet.
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### Author:  [@Donald\_Swofford](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Donald_Swofford)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/4 "2018-03-26T22:34:47Z")
Link for reference but I will remove after your review.
[https://reef24x7.com/c/new-test-category](https://reef24x7.com/c/new-test-category)
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### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2018, 11:02pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/5 "2018-03-26T23:02:25Z")
Right, that’s expected behaviour though, unless I’m missing a nuance here.
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### Author:  [@Donald\_Swofford](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Donald_Swofford)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2018, 11:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/6 "2018-03-26T23:03:43Z")
@HAWK it says it won’t appear but it is appearing? Am I missing a nuance?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2018, 11:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/7 "2018-03-26T23:04:20Z")
You are not on the `/categories` page, you are in the target category.
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### Author:  [@Donald\_Swofford](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Donald_Swofford)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2018, 11:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/8 "2018-03-26T23:06:51Z")
My understanding is that is supposed to be a hidden topic that only the admin or mods can see? Am I wrong in that assumption? All my visitors can see "Replace this first paragraph.."which should be private to me and staff which seems like undesired behavior and a bug?
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### Author:  [@Donald\_Swofford](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Donald_Swofford)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2018, 11:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/9 "2018-03-26T23:09:13Z")
I’m sorry its slowly sinking in. I didnt understand it was specific to that one view I thought it meant categories page as in the idea not the view. Shouldn’t that also just be hidden in general from anyone that doesn’t have the ability to edit that topic i.e. staff. So I guess I’m wondering if this should be a feature request?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2018, 11:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/10 "2018-03-26T23:21:41Z")
> [@Donald\_Swofford](#):
>
> All my visitors can see "Replace this first paragraph…"which should be private to me and staff which seems like undesired behavior and a bug?
Well, the intent is that you edit it to fix that 😉
And yes, anyone can reply to the About topic for meta-discussion of “why does this category exist?” and so forth.
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### Author:  [@Donald\_Swofford](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Donald_Swofford)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/11 "2018-03-26T23:24:50Z")
Ok, I give. I was just hoping it would be more like the READ ME FIRST: Admin Quick Start Guide where it’s for my eyes only in case I forget so i dont look silly.
Thanks for the help sorry for the false alarm
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### Author:  [@tophee](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tophee)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/12 "2018-03-28T22:48:20Z")
So even though everything seems to behave as intended, here is a related phenomenon that drove me nuts today: My “Latest” page was showing one unread topic even though there was no unread topic in sight on the entire page. Only when I saw that also the “New” page had one unread message (it wasn’t evident at first, because I was on mobile) and that page finally revealed to me what that one unread topic was: it was the “About this category” topic of a newly created category that I had not yet edited.
So it would probably be more consistent if those unedited “About this category” topics wouldn’t only be hidden from “latest” but also not count against the unread count. Or - well, I’m actually not quite sure what exactly is going on.
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### Author:  [@Donald\_Swofford](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Donald_Swofford)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2018, 10:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/13 "2018-03-28T22:55:35Z")
I don’t see what benefit they provide to anyone that is not staff etc. A friendly reminder is helpful but advertising lack of stewardship to visitors doesn’t seem helpful.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/14 "2019-01-18T00:54:24Z")
This copy was indeed out of date and has been removed, thank you!
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-category-topic-shows-up-before-it-is-edited/83903/15 "2019-01-18T00:54:27Z")