diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index d99102ec67dc31f0293606ec7872010a9f4601b9..ec38e93925f1caa6852b6d60b27393bf19f576cf 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -349,8 +349,10 @@ class User < ActiveRecord::Base
     self.aspects.create(:name => I18n.t('aspects.seed.work'))
     aq = self.aspects.create(:name => I18n.t('aspects.seed.acquaintances'))
 
-    default_account = Webfinger.new('diasporahq@joindiaspora.com').fetch
-    self.share_with(default_account, aq) if default_account
+    unless AppConfig[:no_follow_diasporahq]
+      default_account = Webfinger.new('diasporahq@joindiaspora.com').fetch
+      self.share_with(default_account, aq) if default_account
+    end
     aq
   end
 
diff --git a/config/application.yml.example b/config/application.yml.example
index d2bd7396efd2336f3e0bd139d620a281fd27ab8b..7c01c0747c729d0f2bf72c658402baf95712add9 100644
--- a/config/application.yml.example
+++ b/config/application.yml.example
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@ defaults: &defaults
   # Set this to true if you want users to invite as many people as they want
   open_invitations: true
 
+  # Set this to true if you don't want your users to follow the diasporahq@joindiaspora.com
+  # account on account creation.  The diasporahq account helps users start with some 
+  # activity in their stream and get news about Diaspora, but if you don't want your server
+  # to contact joindiaspora.com, set this to true:
+  no_follow_diasporahq: false
+
   #
   # Logging setup
   #