diff --git a/src/tool_getparam.c b/src/tool_getparam.c
index e97a1b98cb..662c6eea27 100644
--- a/src/tool_getparam.c
+++ b/src/tool_getparam.c
@@ -1422,7 +1422,7 @@ ParameterError getparameter(char *flag,    /* f or -long-flag */
                    &config->last_post,
                    (subletter=='s')?TRUE:FALSE)) /* 's' means literal string */
         return PARAM_BAD_USE;
-      if(SetHTTPrequest(config, HTTPREQ_POST, &config->httpreq))
+      if(SetHTTPrequest(config, HTTPREQ_FORMPOST, &config->httpreq))
         return PARAM_BAD_USE;
       break;
 
diff --git a/src/tool_helpers.c b/src/tool_helpers.c
index 08248c37cb..2f74dc1334 100644
--- a/src/tool_helpers.c
+++ b/src/tool_helpers.c
@@ -69,13 +69,23 @@ const char *param2text(int res)
 
 int SetHTTPrequest(struct OperationConfig *config, HttpReq req, HttpReq *store)
 {
+  /* this mirrors the HttpReq enum in tool_sdecls.h */
+  const char *reqname[]= {
+    "", /* unspec */
+    "GET (-G, --get)",
+    "HEAD (-I, --head)",
+    "multipart formpost (-F, --form)",
+    "POST (-d, --data)"
+  };
+
   if((*store == HTTPREQ_UNSPEC) ||
      (*store == req)) {
     *store = req;
     return 0;
   }
-
-  warnf(config->global, "You can only select one HTTP request method!\n");
+  warnf(config->global, "You can only select one HTTP request method! "
+        "You asked for both %s and %s.\n",
+        reqname[req], reqname[*store]);
 
   return 1;
 }
diff --git a/src/tool_operate.c b/src/tool_operate.c
index d18175f04b..b3fa14644d 100644
--- a/src/tool_operate.c
+++ b/src/tool_operate.c
@@ -935,7 +935,7 @@ static CURLcode operate_do(struct GlobalConfig *global,
             my_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDSIZE_LARGE,
                       config->postfieldsize);
             break;
-          case HTTPREQ_POST:
+          case HTTPREQ_FORMPOST:
             my_setopt_httppost(curl, CURLOPT_HTTPPOST, config->httppost);
             break;
           default:
diff --git a/src/tool_sdecls.h b/src/tool_sdecls.h
index e74020f777..9455a25108 100644
--- a/src/tool_sdecls.h
+++ b/src/tool_sdecls.h
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  *                            | (__| |_| |  _ <| |___
  *                             \___|\___/|_| \_\_____|
  *
- * Copyright (C) 1998 - 2014, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
+ * Copyright (C) 1998 - 2015, Daniel Stenberg, <daniel@haxx.se>, et al.
  *
  * This software is licensed as described in the file COPYING, which
  * you should have received as part of this distribution. The terms
@@ -135,10 +135,8 @@ typedef enum {
   HTTPREQ_UNSPEC,  /* first in list */
   HTTPREQ_GET,
   HTTPREQ_HEAD,
-  HTTPREQ_POST,
+  HTTPREQ_FORMPOST,
   HTTPREQ_SIMPLEPOST,
-  HTTPREQ_CUSTOM,
-  HTTPREQ_LAST     /* last in list */
 } HttpReq;