diff --git a/public/src/client/category.js b/public/src/client/category.js
index b9ab5bc800..2dccb5f85d 100644
--- a/public/src/client/category.js
+++ b/public/src/client/category.js
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ define('forum/category', [
 		infinitescroll.loadMore('categories.loadMore', {
 			cid: ajaxify.variables.get('category_id'),
 			after: after,
-			author: utils.getQueryParams().author
+			author: utils.params().author
 		}, function (data, done) {
 
 			if (data.topics && data.topics.length) {
diff --git a/public/src/client/search.js b/public/src/client/search.js
index 0af3d56be2..56bdaf6dca 100644
--- a/public/src/client/search.js
+++ b/public/src/client/search.js
@@ -80,8 +80,8 @@ define('forum/search', ['search', 'autocomplete'], function(searchModule, autoco
 				$('#posted-by-user').val(params.by);
 			}
 
-			if ((params['categories[]'] || params.categories)) {
-				$('#posted-in-categories').val(params['categories[]'] || params.categories);
+			if (params.categories) {
+				$('#posted-in-categories').val(params.categories);
 			}
 
 			if (params.searchChildren) {
diff --git a/public/src/utils.js b/public/src/utils.js
index 9c46e3fb6a..f345ab2a22 100644
--- a/public/src/utils.js
+++ b/public/src/utils.js
@@ -270,9 +270,12 @@
 					value = options.skipToType[key] ? decodeURI(val[1]) : utils.toType(decodeURI(val[1]));
 
 				if (key) {
+					if (key.substr(-2, 2) === '[]') {
+						key = key.slice(0, -2);
+					}
 					if (!hash[key]) {
 						hash[key] = value;
-					} else {
+					} else {						
 						if (!$.isArray(hash[key])) {
 							hash[key] = [hash[key]];
 						}
@@ -293,24 +296,6 @@
 			return a;
 		},
 
-		getQueryParams: function() {
-			var search = window.location.search.slice(1),
-				data = {};
-
-			search = search.split('&');
-			for(var x=0,numParams=search.length,temp;x<numParams;x++) {
-				temp = search[x].split('=');
-				if (temp[0].substr(-2, 2) !== '[]') {
-					data[temp[0]] = temp[1];
-				} else {
-					data[temp[0].slice(0, -2)] = data[temp[0].slice(0, -2)] || [];
-					data[temp[0].slice(0, -2)].push(temp[1]);
-				}
-			}
-
-			return data;
-		},
-
 		// return boolean if string 'true' or string 'false', or if a parsable string which is a number
 		// also supports JSON object and/or arrays parsing
 		toType: function(str) {