diff --git a/docs/CONTRIBUTING b/docs/CONTRIBUTING
index 08aab57f51..54e116c8cd 100644
--- a/docs/CONTRIBUTING
+++ b/docs/CONTRIBUTING
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ Text format
 -----------
 Use "unix style" line feeds: "LF" only. Do not use "CR+LF".
 
+Use ISO-8859-1 character set, but try to refrain from using any non-ascii
+letters as they will only appear weird in some camps no matter what.
+
 Patches
 -------
 Create a patch using 'cvs diff -ub'.