diff --git a/appview/pages/templates/repo/pulls/fragments/pullCompareBranches.html b/appview/pages/templates/repo/pulls/fragments/pullCompareBranches.html
index 203d0169..890f17c5 100644
--- a/appview/pages/templates/repo/pulls/fragments/pullCompareBranches.html
+++ b/appview/pages/templates/repo/pulls/fragments/pullCompareBranches.html
@@ -17,4 +17,9 @@
             </select>
         </div>
     </div>
+
+    <p class="mt-4">
+        Title and description are optional; if left out, they will be extracted
+        from the first commit.
+    </p>
 {{ end }}
diff --git a/appview/pages/templates/repo/pulls/fragments/pullCompareForks.html b/appview/pages/templates/repo/pulls/fragments/pullCompareForks.html
index e7e38480..b103a8a9 100644
--- a/appview/pages/templates/repo/pulls/fragments/pullCompareForks.html
+++ b/appview/pages/templates/repo/pulls/fragments/pullCompareForks.html
@@ -39,4 +39,8 @@
             </div>
         </div>
     </div>
+    <p class="mt-4">
+        Title and description are optional; if left out, they will be extracted
+        from the first commit.
+    </p>
 {{ end }}
diff --git a/appview/state/pull.go b/appview/state/pull.go
index b9306818..c2103242 100644
--- a/appview/state/pull.go
+++ b/appview/state/pull.go
@@ -860,9 +860,9 @@ func (s *State) ValidatePatch(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	}
 
 	if patchutil.IsFormatPatch(patch) {
-		s.pages.Notice(w, "patch-preview", "Format patch detected. Title and description are optional; if left out, they will be extracted from the first commit.")
+		s.pages.Notice(w, "patch-preview", "git-format-patch detected. Title and description are optional; if left out, they will be extracted from the first commit.")
 	} else {
-		s.pages.Notice(w, "patch-preview", "Regular diff detected. Please provide a title and description.")
+		s.pages.Notice(w, "patch-preview", "Regular git-diff detected. Please provide a title and description.")
 	}
 }