diff --git a/Shake.hs b/Shake.hs
index 71d2c6eb2..3090c7ef5 100755
--- a/Shake.hs
+++ b/Shake.hs
@@ -224,8 +224,7 @@ main = do
         ,"index"
         ,"intro"
         ,"release-notes"
-        -- some copied from elsewhere
-        -- ,"README"
+        ,"README"
         ,"CONTRIBUTING"
         ]
 
diff --git a/site/README b/site/README
index 192768f78..8564cb8fb 100644
--- a/site/README
+++ b/site/README
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
+This is the README for the site/ directory.
+
+(Confusingly, README.md from the parent directory is also symlinked
+here, to get it rendered as part of the website, and it might take
+precedence when viewing this dir on github.)
+
 Source files for the hledger.org website. 
-To render this, run ./Shake website. 
+To generate the website, run ./Shake website. 
 This will add the web manuals' markdown to this directory, 
 render all markdown as html, and copy static files, to site/_site/.
diff --git a/site/README.md b/site/README.md
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..32d46ee88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/site/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../README.md
\ No newline at end of file