Simple, when performing various git annex command over ssh, in particular a multi-file get, and using password authentication, git annex will prompt more than once for a user password.  This makes batch updates very inconvenient.

> I'd suggest using ssh-agent, or a passwordless ssh key. Possibly in
> combination with [[git-annex-shell]] if you want to lock down a
> particular ssh key to only being able to use git-annex and git-daemon.
> 
> Combining multiple operations into a single ssh is on the todo list, but
> very far down it. --[[Joey]]