diff --git a/plugins/DirectionDetector/DirectionDetectorPlugin.php b/plugins/DirectionDetector/DirectionDetectorPlugin.php
index 303e60d5f4..0277e02c56 100644
--- a/plugins/DirectionDetector/DirectionDetectorPlugin.php
+++ b/plugins/DirectionDetector/DirectionDetectorPlugin.php
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class DirectionDetectorPlugin extends Plugin {
 	 *
 	 * @param 
 	 */
-	public function onEndShowStatusNetStyles(&$xml){
+	public function onEndShowStatusNetStyles($xml){
 		$xml->element('style', array('type' => 'text/css'), 'span.rtl {display:block;direction:rtl;text-align:right;float:right;width:490px;} .notice .author {float:left}');
 	}
 	/**
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ class DirectionDetectorPlugin extends Plugin {
 	 *
 	 * Returns false if the input string isn't a valid UTF-8 octet sequence.
 	 */
-	private static function utf8ToUnicode(&$str){
+	private static function utf8ToUnicode($str){
 		$mState = 0;	   // cached expected number of octets after the current octet
 				   // until the beginning of the next UTF8 character sequence
 		$mUcs4	= 0;     // cached Unicode character