diff --git a/changes/9854 b/changes/9854
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..30105cb73157c2509725e0699e8dddeeb5ddf239
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/9854
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+  o Documentation fixes:
+    - Clarify the usage and risks of ContactInfo. Resolves ticket 9854.
+
diff --git a/doc/tor.1.txt b/doc/tor.1.txt
index 1588653789ebbae9d0464ab881d25e0371ad4959..5fb256ac7dd745f710431d5b2e6ce4d07c73deef 100644
--- a/doc/tor.1.txt
+++ b/doc/tor.1.txt
@@ -1402,9 +1402,13 @@ is non-zero):
     descriptor to the public directory authorities.
 
 [[ContactInfo]] **ContactInfo** __email_address__::
-    Administrative contact information for server. This line might get picked
-    up by spam harvesters, so you may want to obscure the fact that it's an
-    email address.
+    Administrative contact information for this relay or bridge. This line
+    can be used to contact you if your relay or bridge is misconfigured or
+    something else goes wrong. Note that we archive and publish all
+    descriptors containing these lines and that Google indexes them, so
+    spammers might also collect them. You may want to obscure the fact
+    that it's an email address and/or generate a new address for this
+    purpose.
 
 [[ExitPolicy]] **ExitPolicy** __policy__,__policy__,__...__::
     Set an exit policy for this server. Each policy is of the form
diff --git a/src/config/torrc.sample.in b/src/config/torrc.sample.in
index c667efc5c9fba858a25ea137bcdce8c00dba41f0..78013c2f10e3408a0dea571bbd37aa8473d2d513 100644
--- a/src/config/torrc.sample.in
+++ b/src/config/torrc.sample.in
@@ -120,9 +120,12 @@
 ## is per month)
 #AccountingStart month 3 15:00
 
-## Contact info to be published in the directory, so we can contact you
-## if your relay is misconfigured or something else goes wrong. Google
-## indexes this, so spammers might also collect it.
+## Administrative contact information for this relay or bridge. This line
+## can be used to contact you if your relay or bridge is misconfigured or
+## something else goes wrong. Note that we archive and publish all
+## descriptors containing these lines and that Google indexes them, so
+## spammers might also collect them. You may want to obscure the fact that
+## it's an email address and/or generate a new address for this purpose.
 #ContactInfo Random Person <nobody AT example dot com>
 ## You might also include your PGP or GPG fingerprint if you have one:
 #ContactInfo 0xFFFFFFFF Random Person <nobody AT example dot com>