diff --git a/conf/dokuwiki.php b/conf/dokuwiki.php
index 35f946b10ac74df4b797ff9dc14565bda4694d4d..cbd42115df3a1f19377d3f207488526f61a3da29 100644
--- a/conf/dokuwiki.php
+++ b/conf/dokuwiki.php
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ $conf['renderer_xhtml'] = 'xhtml';       //renderer to use for main page generat
 $conf['readdircache'] = 0;               //time cache in second for the readdir operation, 0 to deactivate.
 
 /* Network Settings */
+$conf['dnslookups'] = 1;                 //disable to disallow IP to hostname lookups
 // Proxy setup - if your Server needs a proxy to access the web set these
 $conf['proxy']['host']    = '';
 $conf['proxy']['port']    = '';
diff --git a/inc/common.php b/inc/common.php
index 22a315901591d5e2153331b5d4f74f63b2805fc3..6ea536c44f54cc9e1d400a8693beeb8873a0da1e 100644
--- a/inc/common.php
+++ b/inc/common.php
@@ -676,10 +676,15 @@ function clientismobile(){
 /**
  * Convert one or more comma separated IPs to hostnames
  *
+ * If $conf['dnslookups'] is disabled it simply returns the input string
+ *
  * @author Glen Harris <astfgl@iamnota.org>
  * @returns a comma separated list of hostnames
  */
 function gethostsbyaddrs($ips){
+    global $conf;
+    if(!$conf['dnslookups']) return $ips;
+
     $hosts = array();
     $ips = explode(',',$ips);
 
diff --git a/lib/plugins/config/lang/en/lang.php b/lib/plugins/config/lang/en/lang.php
index d588e02f86d9c85190afed99544f6a71d08b500d..83c843b3a497e68a396676c3345773af6390eabf 100644
--- a/lib/plugins/config/lang/en/lang.php
+++ b/lib/plugins/config/lang/en/lang.php
@@ -177,6 +177,9 @@ $lang['renderer_xhtml']   = 'Renderer to use for main (xhtml) wiki output';
 $lang['renderer__core']   = '%s (dokuwiki core)';
 $lang['renderer__plugin'] = '%s (plugin)';
 
+/* Network Options */
+$lang['dnslookups'] = 'DokuWiki will lookup hostnames for remote IP addresses of users editing pages. If you have a slow or non working DNS server or don\'t want this feature, disable this option';
+
 /* Proxy Options */
 $lang['proxy____host']    = 'Proxy servername';
 $lang['proxy____port']    = 'Proxy port';
diff --git a/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.metadata.php b/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.metadata.php
index 997495b2e698a2744567d172b313a0705f0233e4..3607f56c6509500ffa24ac00504ed276249d7e0c 100644
--- a/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.metadata.php
+++ b/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.metadata.php
@@ -207,6 +207,7 @@ $meta['renderer_xhtml'] = array('renderer','_format' => 'xhtml','_choices' => ar
 $meta['readdircache'] = array('numeric');
 
 $meta['_network']    = array('fieldset');
+$meta['dnslookups']  = array('onoff');
 $meta['proxy____host'] = array('string','_pattern' => '#^(|[a-z0-9\-\.+]+)$#i');
 $meta['proxy____port'] = array('numericopt');
 $meta['proxy____user'] = array('string');