diff --git a/classes/User.php b/classes/User.php
index e8aaaf6a10..75a600578a 100644
--- a/classes/User.php
+++ b/classes/User.php
@@ -874,13 +874,12 @@ class User extends Managed_DataObject
         } else if ($cfg == 'never') {
             return false;
         } else { // user
-            $share = true;
+            $share = common_config('location', 'sharedefault');
 
+            // Check if user has a personal setting for this
             $prefs = User_location_prefs::staticGet('user_id', $this->id);
 
-            if (empty($prefs)) {
-                $share = common_config('location', 'sharedefault');
-            } else {
+            if (!empty($prefs)) {
                 $share = $prefs->share_location;
                 $prefs->free();
             }
diff --git a/lib/default.php b/lib/default.php
index 82ffe80a5d..b7e625ca22 100644
--- a/lib/default.php
+++ b/lib/default.php
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ $default =
         array('contentlimit' => null),
         'location' =>
         array('share' => 'user', // whether to share location; 'always', 'user', 'never'
-              'sharedefault' => true),
+              'sharedefault' => false),
         'omb' =>
         array('timeout' => 5), // HTTP request timeout in seconds when contacting remote hosts for OMB updates
         'logincommand' =>