diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 49ad4d131..2efd2df28 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ var client = new elasticsearch.Client({
 });
 ```
 
-Send a HEAD request to `/?hello=elasticsearch` and allow up to 1 second for it to complete.
+Send a HEAD request to `/` and allow up to 1 second for it to complete.
 ```js
 client.ping({
   // ping usually has a 3000ms timeout
diff --git a/docs/quick_start.asciidoc b/docs/quick_start.asciidoc
index a09cd1221..bed92891d 100644
--- a/docs/quick_start.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/quick_start.asciidoc
@@ -22,14 +22,11 @@ Almost all of the methods on the client accept two arguments:
 
 ==== Ping the cluster
 
-.Send a HEAD request to "/?hello=elasticsearch" and allow up to 30 seconds for it to complete.
+.Send a HEAD request to "/" and allow up to 30 seconds for it to complete.
 [source,js]
 -----------------
 client.ping({
   requestTimeout: 30000,
-
-  // undocumented params are appended to the query string
-  hello: "elasticsearch"
 }, function (error) {
   if (error) {
     console.error('elasticsearch cluster is down!');