diff --git a/app/logical/user_verifier.rb b/app/logical/user_verifier.rb
index e225924ae..df0d43c93 100644
--- a/app/logical/user_verifier.rb
+++ b/app/logical/user_verifier.rb
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ class UserVerifier
   end
 
   def requires_verification?
+    return false if !Danbooru.config.new_user_verification?
     return false if is_local_ip?
 
     # we check for IP bans first to make sure we bump the IP ban hit count
diff --git a/config/danbooru_default_config.rb b/config/danbooru_default_config.rb
index 08f6c29ee..947dc75c1 100644
--- a/config/danbooru_default_config.rb
+++ b/config/danbooru_default_config.rb
@@ -69,6 +69,19 @@ module Danbooru
       "#{source_code_url}/issues"
     end
 
+    # If true, new accounts will require email verification if they seem
+    # suspicious (they were created using a proxy, multiple accounts were
+    # created by the same IP, etc).
+    #
+    # This doesn't apply to personal or development installs running on
+    # localhost or the local network.
+    #
+    # Disable this if you're running a public booru and you don't want email
+    # verification for new accounts.
+    def new_user_verification?
+      true
+    end
+
     # An array of regexes containing disallowed usernames.
     def user_name_blacklist
       []