diff --git a/doc/design/adjusted_branches.mdwn b/doc/design/adjusted_branches.mdwn
index 93979ca619..5c70e4ea91 100644
--- a/doc/design/adjusted_branches.mdwn
+++ b/doc/design/adjusted_branches.mdwn
@@ -161,6 +161,13 @@ If the user refers to commit shas (in, eg commit messages), those won't be
 visible to anyone else.  
 [WORKTREE: not a problem]
 
+When a pull modifies a file, its content won't be available, and so it
+would be hidden temporarily by filter #2. So the file would seem to vanish,
+and come back later, which could be confusing. Could be fixed as discussed
+in [[todo/deferred_update_mode]]. Arguably, it's just as confusing for the
+file to remain visible but have its content temporarily replaced with a
+annex pointer.
+
 ## integration with view branches
 
 Entering a view from an adjusted branch should probably carry the filtering
diff --git a/doc/todo/deferred_update_mode.mdwn b/doc/todo/deferred_update_mode.mdwn
index 46e197f01e..d7eec4ad7e 100644
--- a/doc/todo/deferred_update_mode.mdwn
+++ b/doc/todo/deferred_update_mode.mdwn
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ annex.merge=trydownloadfirst and annex.merge=reqdownloadfirst
 Let `git annex merge` be used to force a merge, even when content is not
 available.
 
-> I think this is the wrong solution, and [[hide_missing_files]] is a
-> better approach to the same problem. See [[design/adjusted_branches]].
-> 
-> Closing as dup. [[done]] --[[Joey]]
+## alternatively
+
+What about just making `git-annex sync --content` try to get the content of
+all files before updating the work tree? (The assistant would need changes
+too; it would need to queue all the downloads and trigger a work tree
+update once all the downloads have been tried.)