diff --git a/src/Cite.php b/src/Cite.php
index e0097eb1f..ddc1ce3c1 100644
--- a/src/Cite.php
+++ b/src/Cite.php
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ class Cite {
 	 *
 	 * @param Parser $parser
 	 * @param ?string $text Raw, untrimmed wikitext content of the <references> tag, if any
-	 * @param string[] $argv Arguments as given in <references name=…>, already trimmed
+	 * @param string[] $argv Arguments as given in <references …>, already trimmed
 	 *
 	 * @return string|false False in case a <references> tag is not allowed in the current context
 	 */
@@ -429,7 +429,7 @@ class Cite {
 	 *
 	 * @param Parser $parser
 	 * @param ?string $text Raw, untrimmed wikitext content of the <references> tag, if any
-	 * @param string[] $argv Arguments as given in <references name=…>, already trimmed
+	 * @param string[] $argv Arguments as given in <references …>, already trimmed
 	 *
 	 * @return string HTML
 	 */
diff --git a/src/ReferenceStack.php b/src/ReferenceStack.php
index 45c6c1d08..000d2d47d 100644
--- a/src/ReferenceStack.php
+++ b/src/ReferenceStack.php
@@ -424,10 +424,6 @@ class ReferenceStack {
 	 * @param string $text
 	 */
 	public function appendText( string $group, string $name, string $text ) {
-		if ( !isset( $this->refs[$group][$name] ) ) {
-			throw new LogicException( "Unknown ref \"$name\" in group \"$group\"" );
-		}
-
 		if ( isset( $this->refs[$group][$name]['text'] ) ) {
 			$this->refs[$group][$name]['text'] .= $text;
 		} else {
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/unit/ReferenceStackTest.php b/tests/phpunit/unit/ReferenceStackTest.php
index fa9936925..182259cd7 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/unit/ReferenceStackTest.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/unit/ReferenceStackTest.php
@@ -1050,22 +1050,11 @@ class ReferenceStackTest extends \MediaWikiUnitTestCase {
 		$this->assertSame( [], $stack->getGroupRefs( 'empty' ) );
 	}
 
-	/**
-	 * @covers ::appendText
-	 */
-	public function testAppendText_failure() {
-		$stack = $this->newStack();
-
-		$this->expectException( LogicException::class );
-		$stack->appendText( 'group', 'name', 'the-text' );
-	}
-
 	/**
 	 * @covers ::appendText
 	 */
 	public function testAppendText() {
 		$stack = $this->newStack();
-		$stack->refs = [ 'group' => [ 'name' => [] ] ];
 
 		$stack->appendText( 'group', 'name', 'set' );
 		$this->assertSame( [ 'text' => 'set' ], $stack->refs['group']['name'] );