diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index f79708af11..5a6c05cf89 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ git-annex (7.20181206) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * add, import, findref: Support --time-limit.
   * Add --branch option to git-annex find and mildly deprecate findref in
     favor of it.
+  * webdav: When initializing, avoid trying to make a directory at the top of
+    the webdav server, which could never accomplish anything and failed on
+    nextcloud servers. (Reversion introduced in version 6.20170925.)
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Thu, 06 Dec 2018 13:39:16 -0400
 
diff --git a/Remote/WebDAV.hs b/Remote/WebDAV.hs
index 566ce69bda..22e20fec66 100644
--- a/Remote/WebDAV.hs
+++ b/Remote/WebDAV.hs
@@ -274,7 +274,6 @@ testDav url (Just (u, p)) = do
 	test $ liftIO $ evalDAVT url $ do
 		prepDAV user pass
 		makeParentDirs
-		void $ mkColRecursive "/"
 		inLocation (tmpLocation "test") $ do
 			putContentM (Nothing, L8.fromString "test")
 			delContentM
diff --git a/doc/bugs/cannot_talk_with_nextcloud_server.mdwn b/doc/bugs/cannot_talk_with_nextcloud_server.mdwn
index a84eca5934..7d0c18e9b2 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/cannot_talk_with_nextcloud_server.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/cannot_talk_with_nextcloud_server.mdwn
@@ -128,3 +128,7 @@ Incidentally, the [[tips/owncloudannex]] remote also [fails](https://github.com/
 ### Have you had any luck using git-annex before? (Sometimes we get tired of reading bug reports all day and a lil' positive end note does wonders)
 
 I use git-annex every day! I hope to write a glowing review for LWN soon. ;) Cheers and hi joey! :)
+
+> So the problem is code was changed a while ago to `mkColRecursive "/"`
+> which causes this wacky attempt to mkcol at the top of the server not
+> underneath the path of the url. [[fixed|done]] --[[Joey]]