diff --git a/config/application.rb b/config/application.rb
index 0c0b401f8fd..7338c428082 100644
--- a/config/application.rb
+++ b/config/application.rb
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ module Discourse
     config.active_record.whitelist_attributes = false unless rails4?
 
     require 'auth'
-    Discourse.activate_plugins! unless Rails.env.test? and ENV['LOAD_PLUGINS'] != "true"
+    Discourse.activate_plugins! unless Rails.env.test? and ENV['LOAD_PLUGINS'] != "1"
 
     config.after_initialize do
       # So open id logs somewhere sane
diff --git a/lib/tasks/plugin.rake b/lib/tasks/plugin.rake
index 382678c506c..f2b36d8fc2a 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/plugin.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/plugin.rake
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ task 'plugin:spec', :plugin do |t, args|
   ruby = `which ruby`.strip
   files = Dir.glob("./plugins/#{args[:plugin]}/spec/**/*.rb")
   if files.length > 0
-    sh "LOAD_PLUGINS=true #{ruby} -S rspec #{files.join(' ')}"
+    sh "LOAD_PLUGINS=1 #{ruby} -S rspec #{files.join(' ')}"
   else
     abort "No specs found."
   end
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 7250a5078b6..d0972d09abd 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ Spork.prefork do
     end
 
     config.before(:all) do
-      DiscoursePluginRegistry.clear if ENV['LOAD_PLUGINS'] != "true"
+      DiscoursePluginRegistry.clear if ENV['LOAD_PLUGINS'] != "1"
       Discourse.current_user_provider = TestCurrentUserProvider
 
       # a bit odd, but this setting is actually preloaded