I get a failure in name resolution when running annex testremote:
mvanhult@detekti:~/temp/my_repo$ git annex testremote bbborig | head
testremote bbborig (generating test keys...) Remote Tests
  unavailable remote
ssh: Could not resolve hostname !dne!: non-recoverable failure in name resolution
    removeKey:                                       OK (0.01s)
ssh: Could not resolve hostname !dne!: non-recoverable failure in name resolution
    storeKey:                                        OK
ssh: Could not resolve hostname !dne!: non-recoverable failure in name resolution
    checkPresent:                                    OK
ssh: Could not resolve hostname !dne!: non-recoverable failure in name resolution
    retrieveKeyFile:                                 OK
    retrieveKeyFileCheap:                            OK
  key size Just 1048576; remote chunksize=0 encryption=none
The following modules were not unloaded:
  (Use "module --force purge" to unload all):
  1) Stages/2024
    removeKey when not present:                      FAIL
      Exception: removing content from remote failed
mvanhult@detekti:~/temp/my_repo$ git remote -v
bbborig juwels:/p/home/jusers/vanhulten1/juwels/temp/my_repo (fetch)
bbborig juwels:/p/home/jusers/vanhulten1/juwels/temp/my_repo (push)
Where does this !dne! come from?
The relevant host of the remote is juwels and not !dne!.
I have never before this post entered the string !dne!.
Is dne an abbreviation?

This is intentional behavior, it's testing that the remote behaves correctly when the server is unavailable. "dne" is an abbreviation for Does Not Exist, and "!dne!" is very unlikely to exist, so it uses that.