diff --git a/zproject/backends.py b/zproject/backends.py
index b1368774c1..e154803205 100644
--- a/zproject/backends.py
+++ b/zproject/backends.py
@@ -145,13 +145,13 @@ class ZulipLDAPAuthBackendBase(ZulipAuthMixin, LDAPBackend):
         return set()
 
     def django_to_ldap_username(self, username):
-        if settings.LDAP_APPEND_DOMAIN is not None:
+        if settings.LDAP_APPEND_DOMAIN:
             if not username.endswith("@" + settings.LDAP_APPEND_DOMAIN):
                 raise ZulipLDAPException("Username does not match LDAP domain.")
             return email_to_username(username)
         return username
     def ldap_to_django_username(self, username):
-        if settings.LDAP_APPEND_DOMAIN is not None:
+        if settings.LDAP_APPEND_DOMAIN:
             return "@".join((username, settings.LDAP_APPEND_DOMAIN))
         return username
 
diff --git a/zproject/local_settings_template.py b/zproject/local_settings_template.py
index 5d6850b866..c4f0d02087 100644
--- a/zproject/local_settings_template.py
+++ b/zproject/local_settings_template.py
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ AUTH_LDAP_USER_SEARCH = LDAPSearch("ou=users,dc=example,dc=com",
 
 # If the value of a user's "uid" (or similar) property is not their email
 # address, specify the domain to append here.
-LDAP_APPEND_DOMAIN = ADMIN_DOMAIN
+LDAP_APPEND_DOMAIN = None
 
 # This map defines how to populate attributes of a Zulip user from LDAP.
 AUTH_LDAP_USER_ATTR_MAP = {