# Random string in category name

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/random-string-in-category-name/135020
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [December 4, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/random-string-in-category-name/135020 "2019-12-04T00:42:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![angus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/angus/32/341715_2.png) [@angus](https://meta.discourse.org/u/angus)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/random-string-in-category-name/135020/1 "2019-12-04T00:42:02Z")

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After setting up a fresh development environment recently, I’ve encountered a strange behaviour and was wondering if anyone knows what this is. I’m seeing a random string being appended to category names and tags:

 ![24 AM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/3/3/337d8bd2e886c9e4df53fd7877f80db22f52a587.png)

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### Author: ![michaeld](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/michaeld/32/1594_2.png) [@michaeld](https://meta.discourse.org/u/michaeld)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2019, 4:20am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/random-string-in-category-name/135020/2 "2019-12-04T04:20:45Z")

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FWIW I’ve seen this a few times as well. Never found the cause so far.

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### Author: ![JimPas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jimpas/32/148179_2.png) [@JimPas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JimPas)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2019, 5:18am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/random-string-in-category-name/135020/3 "2019-12-04T05:18:05Z")

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A couple of days ago someone reported having a random icon to the left of a category or topic title. I’ll look and see if I can find which post it was.

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### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2019, 3:46am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/random-string-in-category-name/135020/4 "2019-12-05T03:46:34Z")

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Could it be random third party plugin related?

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### Author: ![angus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/angus/32/341715_2.png) [@angus](https://meta.discourse.org/u/angus)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2019, 4:07am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/random-string-in-category-name/135020/5 "2019-12-05T04:07:34Z")

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It was a fresh install (no plugins) of Discourse on a localhost. It’s probably got something to do with my local environment.

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### Author: ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2019, 4:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/random-string-in-category-name/135020/6 "2019-12-05T04:33:18Z")

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It is likely coming from here:

> <https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/fa52ed3b168dd42762b8e27c7eca4e003d8bc720/lib/seed_data/categories.rb#L138-L146>

Maybe seed was running concurrently on local?

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### Author: ![angus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/angus/32/341715_2.png) [@angus](https://meta.discourse.org/u/angus)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2019, 4:37am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/random-string-in-category-name/135020/7 "2019-12-05T04:37:48Z")

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Ah that must be it 👍. I must have had duplicate seed data somehow.