diff --git a/django_etebase/utils.py b/django_etebase/utils.py
index 08f81ae..1351f9b 100644
--- a/django_etebase/utils.py
+++ b/django_etebase/utils.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+from django.core.exceptions import PermissionDenied
+
 from . import app_settings
 
 
@@ -18,3 +20,7 @@ def create_user(*args, **kwargs):
         return custom_func(*args, **kwargs)
     _ = kwargs.pop('view')
     return User.objects.create_user(*args, **kwargs)
+
+
+def create_user_blocked(*args, **kwargs):
+    raise PermissionDenied('Signup is disabled for this server. Please refer to the README for more information.')
diff --git a/etebase_server/settings.py b/etebase_server/settings.py
index 7af0c60..f785cb7 100644
--- a/etebase_server/settings.py
+++ b/etebase_server/settings.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'myauth.User'
 SECRET_FILE = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "secret.txt")
 
 # SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
-DEBUG = False
+DEBUG = True
 
 ALLOWED_HOSTS = []
 
@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@ if any(os.path.isfile(x) for x in config_locations):
 ETEBASE_API_PERMISSIONS = ('rest_framework.permissions.IsAuthenticated', )
 ETEBASE_API_AUTHENTICATORS = ('django_etebase.token_auth.authentication.TokenAuthentication',
                               'rest_framework.authentication.SessionAuthentication')
+ETEBASE_CREATE_USER_FUNC = 'django_etebase.utils.create_user_blocked'
 
 # Make an `etebase_server_settings` module available to override settings.
 try: