+(defcustom elpher-TLS-cert-checks nil
+ "If non-nil, verify server TLS certificates using the default
+emacs security protocol. Otherwise, certificate verification is disabled.
+
+This defaults to off because it is standard practice for Gemini servers
+to use self-signed certificates, meaning that most servers provide what
+emacs considers to be an invalid certificate. Since non-Gemini uses such
+as gophers:// are essentially edge cases that rarely occur in the wild,
+this setting applies to *all* TLS connections made by Elpher."
+ :type '(boolean))
+