diff --git a/docs/config.html b/docs/config.html
index cf118ec..0a4af83 100644
--- a/docs/config.html
+++ b/docs/config.html
@@ -119,8 +119,9 @@ cache.  If specified as a relative path, it is evaluated relative to the
 kept for each source when expunging old entries from the cache directory.
 This may be overriden on a per subscription feed basis.</dd>
 <dt><ins>pubsubhubbub_hub</ins></dt>
-<dd>URL to a PubSubHubbub hub, or None to disable. Default is the
-Google App Engine open hub.  Used by <code>publish</code> to ping the
+<dd>URL to a PubSubHubbub hub, for example <a
+href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com">http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com</a>.
+Used by <code>publish</code> to ping the
 hub when feeds are published, speeding delivery of updates to
 subscribers.  See
 the <a href="http://code.google.com/p/pubsubhubbub/"> PubSubHubbub
diff --git a/planet.py b/planet.py
index c08949d..ddbddaf 100755
--- a/planet.py
+++ b/planet.py
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
 
     splice.apply(doc.toxml('utf-8'))
 
-    if not no_publish:
+    if config.pubsubhubbub.hub() and not no_publish:
         from planet import publish
         publish.publish(config)
 
diff --git a/planet/config.py b/planet/config.py
index c066a6a..1ee50fc 100644
--- a/planet/config.py
+++ b/planet/config.py
@@ -105,8 +105,7 @@ def __init__():
     define_planet('output_theme', '')
     define_planet('output_dir', 'output')
     define_planet('spider_threads', 0) 
-    # set pubsubhubbub_hub to None to prevent it from being emitted
-    define_planet('pubsubhubbub_hub', 'http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com') 
+    define_planet('pubsubhubbub_hub', '')
 
     define_planet_int('new_feed_items', 0) 
     define_planet_int('feed_timeout', 20)