diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e26bb8dd..e5b83c1c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -164,6 +164,8 @@ If you don't have RethinkDB set up yet, to start it up, go to the folder where y
 rethinkdb
 ```
 
+_Note: if it takes a long time for RethinkDB to start up, you may be running into [rethinkdb/rethinkdb#4600](https://github.com/rethinkdb/rethinkdb/issues/4600) (or [rethinkdb/rethinkdb#6047](https://github.com/rethinkdb/rethinkdb/issues/6047)). This usually happens on macOS Sierra. To fix this on macOS, first run `scutil --get HostName` to check if the HostName variable is unset. RethinkDB needs it to generate a server name for your instance. If you find that it's empty, running `sudo scutil --set HostName $(hostname)` has been confirmed to fix the issue on at least one occasion. See the issues for more complete solutions._
+
 You should now have RethinkDB running locally. Running the command again in the same folder will reuse the data from the previous session.
 
 You're now ready to start up STF itself:
diff --git a/doc/DEPLOYMENT.md b/doc/DEPLOYMENT.md
index d188a959..dd289d07 100644
--- a/doc/DEPLOYMENT.md
+++ b/doc/DEPLOYMENT.md
@@ -140,7 +140,8 @@ ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker run --rm \
   --net host \
   rethinkdb:2.3 \
   rethinkdb --bind all \
-    --cache-size 8192
+    --cache-size 8192 \
+    --no-update-check
 ExecStop=-/usr/bin/docker stop -t 10 %p
 ```
 
@@ -685,7 +686,7 @@ ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker run --rm \
   openstf/stf:latest \
   stf api --port 3000 \
   --connect-sub tcp://appside.stf.example.org:7150 \
-  --connect-push tcp://appside.stf.example.org:7170  
+  --connect-push tcp://appside.stf.example.org:7170
 ExecStop=-/usr/bin/docker stop -t 10 %p-%i
 ```
 
@@ -805,7 +806,7 @@ ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/docker pull openstf/stf:latest
 ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/docker kill %p-%i
 ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/docker rm %p-%i
 ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker run --rm \
-  --name %p-%i \  
+  --name %p-%i \
   -p %i:3000 \
   openstf/stf:latest \
   stf storage-s3 --port 3000 \