I don’t think there’s any good way to resolve this visually. Perhaps simpler (plain url, with hash ala #features) really is the way to go.
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I think a reasonable compromise here is the bold black styling, that way it is “different enough” to a standard link to stand out, and is not confused with category/tag badges. (I also think it is visually appealing)
This is my pref for resolving this bikeshed and I think it is bestest 
(Also this is consistent with mentions which are not rendered in blue)
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How does this tie in with tags? For most people, # denotes a tag, and while categories are similar to tags, there are still different, and there may be naming clashes (like shown above). If tags stay with #keyword and categories get the badge (in addition to the sharp sign), the visual separation is IMHO accetable and good. Alternatively, you could use a different syntax like [category-name] (with auto-complete, you’ll only ever need to type [) that clashes less with the sharp sign visually, however this “visual language” is not used anywhere else within discourse (you could say the same about sharp sign, though).
So basically, what Jeff said:
If you wrap the sharp sign in its own element/pseudo-class, admins can easily hide the sharp sign with a line of CSS if they want to. Same applies for the badge.
Though I’m still leaning towards same style as @mentions, i.e. without the badge and just a pure text link with a background. Maybe have a backend setting that enables the badge, but have it off by default (since tags are not part of the standard distribution).
I’m on the category badge side of the fence here. For one, #howto looks like a regular hashtag with no indication that it points to a category. Whereas, 
is clear about what the link is pointing to.
@codinghorror I do wonder if we could have category links under a different key. Mixing both together complicates the implementation quite abit. Questions like “What should the default auto complete show? category or tags?” is hard to resolve.
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seconded. there should be clear delineation
# for tags, because that’s how they work everywhere else on the net
For categories, it’s probably a good idea to stick to the “first page” of symbols on a mobile keyboard to promote easy typing. This excludes $ because it’s replaced by the local currency symbol. I think & is probably the best bet?
(although even # is hidden on the second page on iPhone. Shame on you, Ive!)
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Yeah, using another character will even clean room for a future hashtags (a la tumblr, facebook, twitter, instagram) approach.
@ for people
# for tags
What about / for categories? I’m not sure about all the false positives, but it’s easy to reach on mobile keyboards, and has some cognitive similarity: “hey look at the /support for help”
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I don’t see a compelling reason to have a separate character for mentioning tags and categories, or even for over emphasizing the difference visually.
Either way, when I click it, I will be on a page that has a list of topics with that attribute.
Using one character follows the “don’t make me think” rule better in this case, methinks.
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@tgxworld I agree with Sam (and @mcwumbly) here, please make it work that way. Bold text, no color, with hashtag.
edit: also I just noticed the font matches the category styles as well, not sure that’s necessary, but maybe?
Here’s yet another possibility - recognize /c/, then pop up autocomplete.
/c/feature → 
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Would it be reasonable to modify the routing for categories so that the URLs become:
https://meta.discourse.org/c/10/howto
https://meta.discourse.org/c/45/howto/tips-and-tricks
That would seem more consistent from a human-readable perspective, assuming the computer cost is low enough to make it sensible.
O crap… I applied the class to everything XD Will fix
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Sorry to dig this up (again), but I do not like the hashtag + bolded text, as it looks too much like, well, a hashtag and bolded text, not a clickable link (at least until one hovers over it). Is there a reason that the existing formatting for user/group mentions is not being used?
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Yep that was covered in the above posts. You can add custom CSS on your instance if you wish a different styling.
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I’ve got the tags autocomplete working here:
https://github.com/discourse/discourse-tagging/pull/54
Tags are second class citizen to Categories
Things for me to think about over the weekend
- Renaming tags will break the hashtag link. Unlike categories, tags are not assigned a unique ID whenever they are created but are created as a
TopicCustomField. - Category name and tags are allowed to clash XD
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Hmm ok this fix was harder than I expected. What I ended up doing is to add a postfix to tags autocomplete so that we can differentiate tag hashtags from category hashtags. Here is a preview:
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Has anyone discovered that #tags hashtag autocomplete has been merged? 
EDIT: O and it’s broken…
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Hmm…seems to work for me #moderation
Edit: Oh, now I see. It adds the ::tag to the end, even though the post editor preview doesn’t show it…