diff --git a/doc/source/ring_background.rst b/doc/source/ring_background.rst
index b89701abd8..cc6ade8b85 100644
--- a/doc/source/ring_background.rst
+++ b/doc/source/ring_background.rst
@@ -2,14 +2,23 @@
 Building a Consistent Hashing Ring
 ==================================
 
----------------------
-Authored by Greg Holt
----------------------
+------------------------------------
+Authored by Greg Holt, February 2011
+------------------------------------
 
 This is a compilation of five posts I made earlier discussing how to build
 a consistent hashing ring. The posts seemed to be accessed quite frequently,
 so I've gathered them all here on one page for easier reading.
 
+.. note::
+    This is an historical document; as such, all code examples are Python 2.
+    If this makes you squirm, think of it as pseudo-code. Regardless of
+    implementation language, the state of the art in consistent-hashing and
+    distributed systems more generally has advanced. We hope that this
+    introduction from first principles will still prove informative,
+    particularly with regard to how data is distributed within a Swift
+    cluster.
+
 Part 1
 ======
 "Consistent Hashing" is a term used to describe a process where data is