diff --git a/doc/CHANGES-staging/README.md b/doc/CHANGES-staging/README.md
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+## **DO NOT REMOVE THIS FILE!**
+
+The only files that should be added to this directory are ones that will be
+used by the release script to update the CHANGES file automatically. The only
+time that it is necessary to add something to the CHANGES-staging directory is
+if you are either adding a new feature to Asterisk or adding new functionality
+to an existing feature. The file does not need to have a meaningful name, but
+it probably should. If there are multiple items that need documenting, each can
+be separated with a subject line, which should always start with "Subject:",
+followed by the subject of the change. This is case sensitive! For example, if
+you are making a change to PJSIP, then you might add the file
+"res_pjsip_my_cool_feature" to this directory, with a short description of what
+it does. If you are adding multiple entries, they should be done in the same
+commit to avoid merge conflicts. Here's an example:
+
+> Subject: res_pjsip
+>
+> Here's a pretty good description of my new feature that explains exactly what
+> it does and how to use it.
+>
+> Subject: core
+> Master-Only: true
+>
+> Here's another description of something else I added that is a big enough
+> change to warrant another entry in the CHANGES file.
+
+Note that the second subject has another header: "Master-Only". Changes that go
+into the master branch and ONLY the master branch are the only ones that should
+have this header. Also, the value can only be "true" or "True". The
+"Master-Only" part of the header IS case-sensitive, however!
+
+For more information, check out the wiki page:
+https://wiki.asterisk.org/wiki/display/AST/CHANGES+and+UPGRADE.txt
diff --git a/doc/UPGRADE-staging/README.md b/doc/UPGRADE-staging/README.md
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+## **DO NOT REMOVE THIS FILE!**
+
+The only files that should be added to this directory are ones that will be
+used by the release script to update the UPGRADE.txt file automatically. The
+only time that it is necessary to add something to the UPGRADE-staging directory
+is if you are making a breaking change to an existing feature in Asterisk. The
+file does not need to have a meaningful name, but it probably should. If there
+are multiple items that need documenting, each can be separated with a subject
+line, which should always start with "Subject:", followed by the subject of the
+change. This is case sensitive! For example, if you are making a change to PJSIP,
+then you might add the file "res_pjsip_breaking_change" to this directory, with
+a short description of what it does. If you are adding multiple entries, they
+should be done in the same commit to avoid merge conflicts. Here's an example:
+
+> Subject: res_pjsip
+>
+> Here's a pretty good description of what I changed that explains exactly what
+> it does and why it breaks things (and why they needed to be broken).
+>
+> Subject: core
+> Master-Only: true
+>
+> Here's another description of something else I added that is a big enough
+> change to warrant another entry in the UPDATE.txt file.
+
+Note that the second subject has another header: "Master-Only". Changes that go
+into the master branch and ONLY the master branch are the only ones that should
+have this header. Also, the value can only be "true" or "True". The
+"Master-Only" part of the header IS case-sensitive, however!
+
+For more information, check out the wiki page:
+https://wiki.asterisk.org/wiki/display/AST/CHANGES+and+UPGRADE.txt