diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 26cf448afb..25d9480e8f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ git-annex (6.20180510) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * Don't allow entering a view with staged or unstaged changes.
   * Workaround for bug in an old version of cryptonite that broke https
     downloads, by using curl for downloads when git-annex is built with it.
+  * move: --force was accidentially enabling two unrelated behaviors
+    since 6.20180427. The older behavior, which has never been well
+    documented and seems almost entirely useless, has been removed.
+  * copy: --force no longer does anything.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Mon, 14 May 2018 13:42:41 -0400
 
diff --git a/Command/Move.hs b/Command/Move.hs
index 529dbb0e68..2f3079207e 100644
--- a/Command/Move.hs
+++ b/Command/Move.hs
@@ -186,15 +186,13 @@ fromStart removewhen afile key ai src = case removewhen of
 		next $ fromPerform src removewhen key afile
 
 fromOk :: Remote -> Key -> Annex Bool
-fromOk src key = go =<< Annex.getState Annex.force
+fromOk src key 
+	| Remote.hasKeyCheap src =
+		either (const checklog) return =<< haskey
+	| otherwise = checklog
   where
-	go True = either (const $ return True) return =<< haskey
-	go False
-		| Remote.hasKeyCheap src =
-			either (const expensive) return =<< haskey
-		| otherwise = expensive
 	haskey = Remote.hasKey src key
-	expensive = do
+	checklog = do
 		u <- getUUID
 		remotes <- Remote.keyPossibilities key
 		return $ u /= Remote.uuid src && elem src remotes
diff --git a/doc/bugs/g-a_move_has_force_option_described_twice/comment_2_71eed2cf7fd21634a2b60ef5cd9ccb93._comment b/doc/bugs/g-a_move_has_force_option_described_twice/comment_2_71eed2cf7fd21634a2b60ef5cd9ccb93._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..daa49e540c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/bugs/g-a_move_has_force_option_described_twice/comment_2_71eed2cf7fd21634a2b60ef5cd9ccb93._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="joey"
+ subject="""comment 2"""
+ date="2018-05-21T17:04:56Z"
+ content="""
+Actually the --force documentation re location tracking is not a good
+description of the behavior. It only affects --from, and with --force
+it still contacts the remote to check if it has the content. Only
+if that check fails to return a result (ie, the remote can't be contacted),
+does it assume that the remote has the content, rather than the default
+behavior of falling back to looking at the location tracking information.
+
+It's hard to see how that could be useful at all; if it fails in
+communication with the remote, presumably the content transfer will later
+fail as well.
+
+The only actual behavior change would be when the remote cannot be
+contacted, and the location tracking information says it does not contain a
+file. Then `move --force --from remote` will fail, because it tries
+to perform the move and can't contact the remote, while `move --from
+remote` will succeed, because it assumes the location tracking is right.
+
+That does not seem a useful distinction. And that was the behavior all the
+way back to the first commit of this "feature" in 2013.
+
+So, removing that.
+
+----
+
+There may be room for a new option that actually does whatever you were
+hoping --force did. So let's talk about that..
+"""]]
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-copy.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-copy.mdwn
index be082ffa01..fedeaa067e 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-copy.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-copy.mdwn
@@ -46,12 +46,6 @@ Copies the content of files from or to another remote.
   already has content. This can be faster, but might skip copying content
   to the remote in some cases.
 
-* `--force`
-
-  When copying content from a remote, ignore location tracking information
-  and always check if the remote has content. Can be useful if the location
-  tracking information is out of date.
-
 * `--all` `-A`
 
   Rather than specifying a filename or path to copy, this option can be
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-move.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-move.mdwn
index 1a5aa7aaa3..661edba1d9 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-move.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-move.mdwn
@@ -69,12 +69,6 @@ Moves the content of files from or to another remote.
   already has content. This can be faster, but might skip moving content
   to the remote in some cases.
 
-* `--force`
-
-  When moving content from a remote, ignore location tracking information
-  and always check if the remote has content. Can be useful if the location
-  tracking information is out of date.
-
 * file matching options
 
   The [[git-annex-matching-options]](1)