diff --git a/classes/Notice.php b/classes/Notice.php
index 92d4b88329..c392c39c9f 100644
--- a/classes/Notice.php
+++ b/classes/Notice.php
@@ -357,17 +357,22 @@ class Notice extends Memcached_DataObject
 
 	function publicStream($offset=0, $limit=20, $since_id=0, $before_id=0) {
 
-		$needAnd = FALSE;
-      	$needWhere = TRUE;
-
+		$parts = array();
+		
 		$qry = 'SELECT * FROM notice ';
 
 		if (common_config('public', 'localonly')) {
-			$qry .= ' WHERE is_local = 1 ';
-			$needWhere = FALSE;
-			$needAnd = TRUE;
+			$parts[] = 'is_local = 1';
 		}
 
+		if (common_config('public', 'blacklist')) {
+			$parts[] = 'profile_id not in (' . implode(',', common_config('public', 'blacklist')) . ')';
+		}
+
+		if ($parts) {
+			$qry .= ' WHERE ' . implode(' AND ', $parts);
+		}
+			  
 		return Notice::getStream($qry,
 								 'public',
 								 $offset, $limit, $since_id, $before_id);
diff --git a/config.php.sample b/config.php.sample
index d976b523b5..17a7763af7 100644
--- a/config.php.sample
+++ b/config.php.sample
@@ -92,6 +92,10 @@ $config['db']['database'] = 'mysql://laconica:microblog@localhost/laconica';
 #optionally show non-local messages in public timeline
 #$config['public']['localonly'] = false;
 
+#hide certain users from public pages, by ID
+#$config['public']['blacklist'][] = 123;
+#$config['public']['blacklist'][] = 2307;
+
 #Do notice broadcasts offline
 #If you use this, you must run the six offline daemons in the
 #background. See the README for details.
diff --git a/lib/common.php b/lib/common.php
index 72965a3581..2ab9c616c4 100644
--- a/lib/common.php
+++ b/lib/common.php
@@ -86,7 +86,8 @@ $config =
 		'avatar' =>
 		array('server' => NULL),
 		'public' =>
-		array('localonly' => true),
+		array('localonly' => true,
+			  'blacklist' => array()),
 		'theme' =>
 		array('server' => NULL),
 		'xmpp' =>