diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm
index 0886fd753..673668c0e 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/aggregate.pm
@@ -42,14 +42,14 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		aggregateinternal => {
 			type => "boolean",
-			default => 0,
+			example => 0,
 			description => "enable aggregation to internal pages?",
 			safe => 0, # enabling needs manual transition
 			rebuild => 0,
 		},
 		aggregate_webtrigger => {
 			type => "boolean",
-			default => 0,
+			example => 0,
 			description => "allow aggregation to be triggered via the web?",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 0,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/amazon_s3.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/amazon_s3.pm
index d9279b680..e181a84da 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/amazon_s3.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/amazon_s3.pm
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 		},
 		amazon_s3_dupindex => {
 			type => "boolean",
-			default => 0,
+			example => 0,
 			description => "store each index file twice? (allows urls ending in \"/index.html\" and \"/\")",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 1,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/attachment.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/attachment.pm
index 6f707832d..47e165251 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/attachment.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/attachment.pm
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		virus_checker => {
 			type => "string",
-			default => "",
 			example => "clamdscan -",
 			description => "virus checker program (reads STDIN, returns nonzero if virus found)",
 			safe => 0, # executed
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/calendar.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/calendar.pm
index dd6898c57..6f1f9bd07 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/calendar.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/calendar.pm
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		archivebase => {
 			type => "string",
-			default => "archives",
+			example => "archives",
 			description => "base of the archives hierarchy",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 1,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/inline.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/inline.pm
index be9526df8..cdd0ab0dc 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/inline.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/inline.pm
@@ -49,35 +49,34 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		rss => {
 			type => "boolean",
-			default => 0,
+			example => 0,
 			description => "enable rss feeds by default?",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 1,
 		},
 		atom => {
 			type => "boolean",
-			default => 0,
+			example => 0,
 			description => "enable atom feeds by default?",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 1,
 		},
 		allowrss => {
 			type => "boolean",
-			default => 0,
+			example => 0,
 			description => "allow rss feeds to be used?",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 1,
 		},
 		allowatom => {
 			type => "boolean",
-			default => 0,
+			example => 0,
 			description => "allow atom feeds to be used?",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 1,
 		},
 		pingurl => {
 			type => "string",
-			default => "",
 			example => "http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping",
 			description => "urls to ping (using XML-RPC) on feed update",
 			safe => 1,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/mdwn.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/mdwn.pm
index 59cb93bc4..332325adc 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/mdwn.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/mdwn.pm
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		multimarkdown => {
 			type => "boolean",
-			default => 0,
+			example => 0,
 			description => "enable multimarkdown features?",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 1,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/mirrorlist.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/mirrorlist.pm
index eb273561d..f7c78fdee 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/mirrorlist.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/mirrorlist.pm
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		mirrorlist => {
 			type => "string",
-			default => {},
+			example => {},
 			description => "list of mirrors",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 1,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/openid.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/openid.pm
index bc9311d9c..de7f7280e 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/openid.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/openid.pm
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		openidsignup => {
 			type => "string",
-			default => "",
 			example => "http://myopenid.com/",
 			description => "an url where users can signup for an OpenID",
 			safe => 1,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/passwordauth.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/passwordauth.pm
index 7319614f7..82afeef98 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/passwordauth.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/passwordauth.pm
@@ -17,14 +17,14 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		account_creation_password => {
 			type => "string",
-			default => "",
+			example => "s3cr1t",
 			description => "a password that must be entered when signing up for an account",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 0,
 		},
 		password_cost => {
 			type => "integer",
-			default => 8,
+			example => 8,
 			description => "cost of generating a password using Authen::Passphrase::BlowfishCrypt",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 0,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/pinger.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/pinger.pm
index 0aee17f8a..e72833b8f 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/pinger.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/pinger.pm
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		pinger_timeout => {
 			type => "integer",
-			default => 15,
+			example => 15,
 			description => "how many seconds to try pinging before timing out",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 0,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/prettydate.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/prettydate.pm
index 080317f06..db5a94f41 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/prettydate.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/prettydate.pm
@@ -48,14 +48,13 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		prettydateformat => {
 			type => "string",
-			default => '%X, %B %o, %Y',
+			example => '%X, %B %o, %Y',
 			description => "format to use to display date",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 1,
 		},
 		timetable => {
 			type => "internal",
-			default => undef,
 			description => "array of time descriptions",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 1,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/recentchanges.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/recentchanges.pm
index 6ab4f9d03..d534d0cd9 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/recentchanges.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/recentchanges.pm
@@ -18,14 +18,14 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		recentchangespage => {
 			type => "string",
-			default => "recentchanges",
+			example => "recentchanges",
 			description => "name of the recentchanges page",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 1,
 		},
 		recentchangesnum => {
 			type => "integer",
-			default => 100,
+			example => 100,
 			description => "number of changes to track",
 			safe => 1,
 			rebuild => 0,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/search.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/search.pm
index ff18e1faf..c45e59c8e 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/search.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/search.pm
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		omega_cgi => {
 			type => "string",
-			default => "/usr/lib/cgi-bin/omega/omega",
 			description => "path to the omega cgi program",
 			safe => 0, # external program
 			rebuild => 0,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/skeleton.pm.example b/IkiWiki/Plugin/skeleton.pm.example
index 716ba63dd..49c4d88f2 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/skeleton.pm.example
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/skeleton.pm.example
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		skeleton => {
 			type => "boolean",
-			default => 0,
+			example => 0,
 			description => "example option",
 			safe => 0,
 			rebuild => 0,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/tag.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/tag.pm
index d4cbb6705..36b434f67 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/tag.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/tag.pm
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		tagbase => {
 			type => "string",
-			default => "",
 			example => "tag",
 			description => "parent page tags are located under",
 			safe => 1,
diff --git a/IkiWiki/Plugin/typography.pm b/IkiWiki/Plugin/typography.pm
index 4c486d4b4..5ba14084b 100644
--- a/IkiWiki/Plugin/typography.pm
+++ b/IkiWiki/Plugin/typography.pm
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ sub getsetup () { #{{{
 	return
 		typographyattributes => {
 			type => "string",
-			default => "3",
+			example => "3",
 			example => "tag",
 			description => "Text::Typography attributes value",
 			safe => 1,
diff --git a/doc/plugins/write.mdwn b/doc/plugins/write.mdwn
index 9a844ca06..686f7e518 100644
--- a/doc/plugins/write.mdwn
+++ b/doc/plugins/write.mdwn
@@ -376,7 +376,6 @@ describing the option. For example:
                 return
 			option_foo => {
 				type => "boolean",
-				default => 0,
 				description => "enable foo",
 				safe => 1,
 				rebuild => 1,
@@ -392,8 +391,7 @@ describing the option. For example:
 * `type` can be "boolean", "string", "integer", "internal" (used for values
   that are not user-visible). The type is the type of the leaf values; 
   the `%config` option may be an array or hash of these.
-* `default` should be set to the default value of the option, if any.
-* `example` can be set to an example value, which will not be used by default.
+* `example` can be set to an example value.
 * `description` is a short description of the option.
 * `safe` should be false if the option should not be displayed in unsafe
   configuration methods, such as the web interface. Anything that specifies