diff --git a/Remote/Borg.hs b/Remote/Borg.hs
index aefe616902..4e241eb4ac 100644
--- a/Remote/Borg.hs
+++ b/Remote/Borg.hs
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ remote = RemoteType
 			(FieldDesc "(required) borg repository to use")
 		, optionalStringParser subdirField
 			(FieldDesc "limit to a subdirectory of the borg repository")
+		, yesNoParser appendonlyField (Just False)
+			(FieldDesc "you will not use borg to delete from the repository")
 		]
 	, setup = borgSetup
 	, exportSupported = exportUnsupported
@@ -63,6 +65,9 @@ borgrepoField = Accepted "borgrepo"
 subdirField :: RemoteConfigField
 subdirField = Accepted "subdir"
 
+appendonlyField :: RemoteConfigField
+appendonlyField = Accepted "appendonly"
+
 gen :: Git.Repo -> UUID -> RemoteConfig -> RemoteGitConfig -> RemoteStateHandle -> Annex (Maybe Remote)
 gen r u rc gc rs = do
 	c <- parsedRemoteConfig remote rc
@@ -108,7 +113,11 @@ gen r u rc gc rs = do
 		, availability = if borgLocal borgrepo then LocallyAvailable else GloballyAvailable
 		, readonly = False
 		, appendonly = False
-		, untrustworthy = True
+		-- When the user sets the appendonly field, they are
+		-- promising not to delete content out from under git-annex
+		-- using borg, so the remote is not untrustworthy.
+		, untrustworthy = maybe True not $
+			getRemoteConfigValue appendonlyField c
 		, mkUnavailable = return Nothing
 		, getInfo = return [("repo", borgrepo)]
 		, claimUrl = Nothing
diff --git a/doc/special_remotes/borg.mdwn b/doc/special_remotes/borg.mdwn
index 7148012bee..d0cf2556dc 100644
--- a/doc/special_remotes/borg.mdwn
+++ b/doc/special_remotes/borg.mdwn
@@ -6,6 +6,13 @@ files in this special remote. You store files by using borg as usual, to
 back up the git-annex repository. Then `git-annex sync` will learn about
 the annexed files that are stored in the borg repository.
 
+## setup example
+
+	# borg init --encryption=keyfile /path/to/borgrepo
+	# git annex initremote borg type=borg borgrepo=/path/to/borgrepo
+	# borg create /path/to/borgrepo `pwd`::{now}
+	# git annex sync borg
+
 ## configuration
 
 These parameters can be passed to `git annex initremote` to configure the
@@ -22,9 +29,15 @@ remote:
   repository that belong to unrelated git-annex repositories. It can also
   make syncing faster.
 
-## setup example
+* `appendonly` - You could use borg to delete content from the
+  repository at any time, so this defaults to "no", which 
+  makes the remote be untrusted. If you set to "yes", you must
+  take care to avoid using commands like `borg delete` and
+  `borg prune` with the borg repository.
 
-	# borg init --encryption=keyfile /path/to/borgrepo
-	# git annex initremote borg type=borg borgrepo=/path/to/borgrepo
-	# borg create /path/to/borgrepo `pwd`::{now}
-	# git annex sync borg
+## avoid archive name reuse
+
+Borg repositories contain archives, and git-annex assumes that, once
+created, the content of an archive does not change. So if you delete an
+archive and then create a new archive with the same name, it will confuse
+git-annex about what is contained in the borg repository.
diff --git a/doc/todo/allow_overriding_untrust_of_import_remotes.mdwn b/doc/todo/allow_overriding_untrust_of_import_remotes.mdwn
index 99d6009d52..f183ddd365 100644
--- a/doc/todo/allow_overriding_untrust_of_import_remotes.mdwn
+++ b/doc/todo/allow_overriding_untrust_of_import_remotes.mdwn
@@ -18,38 +18,11 @@ to trust it.
 Below is some docs I wrote for the borg special remote page, should be
 moved there when this gets fixed. --[[Joey]]
 
-## trust levels, borg delete and borg prune
+> There is Remote.appendonly, which prevents making import remotes
+> untrusted. So if there were a way to set that for borg, it could
+> be configured at initremote/enableremote time. But,
+> Remote.Helper.ExportImport also assumes appendonly means that content can
+> be accessed by Key, rather than by ImportLocation, which does not work
+> for borg.
 
-git-annex will by default treat the borg special remote as untrusted, so
-will not trust it to continue to contain a [[copy|copies]] of any annexed
-file. This is necessary because you could run `borg delete` or `borg prune`
-and remove the copy from the borg repository. If you choose to set the
-trust level of the borg repository to a higher level, you need to avoid
-using such commands with that borg repository.
-
-Consider this example:
-
-	git-annex add annexedfile
-	borg create /path/to/borgrepo `pwd`::foo
-	git-annex sync borg
-	git-annex semitrust borg
-	git-annex drop annexedfile
-
-Now the only copy of annexedfile is in the borg repository.
-
-	borg create /path/to/borgrepo `pwd`::bar
-	borg delete /path/to/borgrepo::foo
-	git-annex sync borg
-	git-annex whereis annexedfile
-
-Now no copies of annexfile remain, because the "foo" archive
-in the borg repository was the only one to contain it, and it was deleted.
-
-So either keep the borg special remote as untrusted, and use such borg
-commands to delete old archives as needed, or avoid using `borg delete`
-and `borg prune`, and then the remote can safely be made semitrusted or
-trusted.
-
-Also, if you do choose to delete old archives, make sure to never reuse
-that archive name for a new archive. git-annex may think it's the same
-archive it saw before, and not notice the change.
+>> [[done]] via Remote.untrustworthy --[[Joey]]