lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm | 6 ++++--
 script/public-inbox-learn | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
index 31dc769583bd32777e2d25e16de743fd507a65c0..8c9d1cbad526a7d1e5dd3813f390685a0cd3713b 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ # returns undef on non-existent
 # ('MISMATCH', msg) on mismatch
 # (:MARK, msg) on success
 sub remove {
-	my ($self, $mime) = @_; # mime = Email::MIME
+	my ($self, $mime, $msg) = @_; # mime = Email::MIME
 
 	my $mid = mid_mime($mime);
 	my $path = mid2path($mid);
@@ -138,10 +138,12 @@ 		print $w "reset $ref\n" or wfail;
 	}
 	my $ident = $self->{ident};
 	my $now = now2822();
+	$msg ||= 'rm';
+	my $len = length($msg) + 1;
 	print $w "commit $ref\nmark :$commit\n",
 		"author $ident $now\n",
 		"committer $ident $now\n",
-		"data 3\nrm\n\n",
+		"data $len\n$msg\n\n",
 		'from ', ($parent ? $parent : $tip), "\n" or wfail;
 	print $w "D $path\n\n" or wfail;
 	$self->{nchg}++;
diff --git a/script/public-inbox-learn b/script/public-inbox-learn
index 71aa50f9d5989b093b4efa50f4312267f8ce6440..75294a0a8e44e9368fc0b98d7db38d1d8a71152b 100755
--- a/script/public-inbox-learn
+++ b/script/public-inbox-learn
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ 		# This needs to be idempotent, as my inotify trainer
 		# may train for each cross-posted message, and this
 		# script already learns for every list in
 		# ~/.public-inbox/config
-		$im->remove($mime);
+		$im->remove($mime, $train);
 	} else { # $train eq "ham"
 		# no checking for spam here, we assume the message has
 		# been reviewed by a human at this point: