Forum reference and referral link error

I'm using the html link provided on my user panel to place a referral link to this forum on a webpage.  However I get this error when I test the link:

"Sorry, but our system shows that you have already registered on these forums and the registration of multiple accounts has been disabled."

Is this because I'm using the same system to test as I normally use to access the forum?  I can test this on another system to verify, but I'm not presently near that computer so...
Thanks

CI 3.1 Kubuntu 19.04 Apache 5.x  Mysql 5.x PHP 5.x PHP 7.x
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