diff --git a/public/templates/recent.tpl b/public/templates/recent.tpl
index 2b3416a9dd..11efe8861a 100644
--- a/public/templates/recent.tpl
+++ b/public/templates/recent.tpl
@@ -7,15 +7,14 @@
 </div>
 
 
-<div class="alert alert-warning hide {no_topics_message}" id="category-no-topics">
-	<strong>There are no topics in this category.</strong><br />
-	Why don't you try posting one?
-</div>
-
 <a href="/recent">
 	<div class="alert hide" id="new-topics-alert"></div>
 </a>
 
+<div class="alert alert-warning hide {no_topics_message}" id="category-no-topics">
+	<strong>There are no recent topics.</strong>
+</div>
+
 
 <div class="category row">
 	<div class="{topic_row_size}">
diff --git a/src/categories.js b/src/categories.js
index acbe8441b6..ec65e1b525 100644
--- a/src/categories.js
+++ b/src/categories.js
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ var	RDB = require('./redis.js'),
 			};
 
 			if (!tids || !tids.length) {
+				latestTopics.no_topics_message = 'show';
 				callback(latestTopics);
 				return;
 			}