diff --git a/plugins/content_log b/plugins/content_log
index b4f04c4..9392f69 100644
--- a/plugins/content_log
+++ b/plugins/content_log
@@ -1,16 +1,38 @@
 #!perl -w
 
-# A simple example of a plugin that logs all incoming mail to a file.
-# Useful for debugging other plugins or keeping an archive of things.
+=head1 NAME
+
+content_log - record incoming mail to a file
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+A simple example of a plugin that logs all incoming mail to a file.
+Useful for debugging other plugins or keeping an archive of things.
+
+=head1 CONFIG
+
+=head2 content_log_enabled <true|false>
+
+Used to enable and disable content logging
+
+Default: true
+=cut
 
 use POSIX qw:strftime:;
 
-sub hook_data_post {
+sub register {
+    my ( $self ) = @_;
+    return if ! $self->content_log_enabled;
+    $self->register_hook('data_post', 'data_post_handler');
+}
+
+sub data_post_handler {
     my ($self, $transaction) = @_;
 
-    # as a decent default, log on a per-day-basis
-    my $date = strftime("%Y%m%d", localtime(time));
-    open(my $out, ">>mail/$date")
+    return DECLINED, 'excluded from content logging'
+        if $self->exclude();
+
+    open my $out, '>>',  $self->content_log_file
       or return DECLINED, "Could not open log file.. continuing anyway";
 
     $transaction->header->print($out);
@@ -23,3 +45,22 @@ sub hook_data_post {
 
     return DECLINED, "successfully saved message.. continuing";
 }
+
+sub content_log_file {
+    # as a decent default, log on a per-day-basis
+    my $date = strftime("%Y%m%d", localtime(time));
+    return "mail/$date";
+}
+
+sub content_log_enabled {
+    my ( $self ) = @_;
+    my $enabled = $self->qp->config('content_log_enabled');
+    $enabled = 'true' if ! defined $enabled;
+    return 1 if $enabled =~ /^(?:true|1|yes)\s*$/i;
+    return 0;
+}
+
+sub exclude {
+    # override this method to exclude some messages from content logging
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/t/config/content_log_enabled b/t/config/content_log_enabled
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c508d53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/config/content_log_enabled
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+false
diff --git a/t/config/plugins b/t/config/plugins
index 48903ea..d2f9b25 100644
--- a/t/config/plugins
+++ b/t/config/plugins
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 # my $MAXCONNIP = 5; # max simultaneous connections from one IP
 # settings... without this it will NOT refuse more than $MAXCONNIP connections
 # from one IP!
+content_log
 hosts_allow
 
 # information plugins
diff --git a/t/plugin_tests/content_log b/t/plugin_tests/content_log
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61a5e2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/plugin_tests/content_log
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+#!perl -w
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+sub register_tests {
+    my ( $self ) = @_;
+    $self->register_test('test_content_log_file');
+    $self->register_test('test_content_log_enabled');
+    $self->register_test('test_exclude');
+}
+
+sub test_content_log_file {
+    my ( $self ) = @_;
+    ok( $self->content_log_file, 'content_log_file() returns something' );
+}
+
+sub test_content_log_enabled {
+    my ( $self ) = @_;
+    ok( ! $self->content_log_enabled, 'content_log_enabled() returns false' );
+    my @test_data = (
+        {
+            config   => 'true',
+            expected => 1,
+        },
+        {
+            config   => undef,
+            expected => 1,
+        },
+        {
+            config   => '1',
+            expected => 1,
+        },
+        {
+            config   => 'yes',
+            expected => 1,
+        },
+        {
+            config   => 'yes    ',
+            expected => 1,
+        },
+        {
+            config   => '0',
+            expected => 0,
+        },
+        {
+            config   => 'false',
+            expected => 0,
+        },
+        {
+            config   => 'no',
+            expected => 0,
+        },
+        {
+            config   => 'asdf ',
+            expected => 0,
+        },
+    );
+    $self->save_hook;
+    for ( @test_data ) {
+        my $descr = "content_log_enabled="
+            . ( defined $_->{config } ? "'$_->{config }'" : 'undef' )
+            . ( $_->{expected} ? ' enables' : ' disables' )
+            . ' content logging';
+        $self->fake_config( $_->{config } );
+        is( $self->content_log_enabled, $_->{expected}, $descr );
+    }
+    $self->restore_hook;
+}
+
+our $oldhook;
+sub save_hook {
+    my ( $self ) = @_;
+    $oldhook = $self->qp->hooks->{config};
+}
+
+sub restore_hook {
+    my ( $self ) = @_;
+    $self->qp->hooks->{config} = $oldhook;
+}
+
+sub fake_config {
+    my ( $self, $value ) = @_;
+    $self->qp->hooks->{config} = [
+        {
+            name => 'test hook',
+            code => sub { return OK, $value },
+        },
+    ];
+}
+
+sub test_exclude {
+    my ( $self ) = @_;
+    ok( ! $self->exclude, 'exclude() default method returns false' );
+}
+