diff --git a/src/components/registration/steps.jsx b/src/components/registration/steps.jsx
index 34dd2ce71..a6d8ee961 100644
--- a/src/components/registration/steps.jsx
+++ b/src/components/registration/steps.jsx
@@ -185,7 +185,6 @@ module.exports = {
                                 <Input className={this.state.validUsername}
                                        type="text"
                                        name="user.username"
-                                       ref="thing"
                                        onBlur={this.onUsernameBlur}
                                        validations={{
                                            matchRegexp: /^[\w-]*$/,