diff --git a/app/User.php b/app/User.php
index e293673..fdfe096 100644
--- a/app/User.php
+++ b/app/User.php
@@ -295,9 +295,8 @@ class User
         $emailClean = clean_string($email, true);
         $password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);
 
-        if (!$ranks) {
-            $ranks[] = config('rank.regular');
-        }
+        // make sure the user is always in the primary rank
+        $ranks = array_unique(array_merge($ranks, [intval(config('rank.regular'))]));
 
         $userId = DB::table('users')
             ->insertGetId([