-We can accept small changes (roughly, fewer than 15 lines) without
-legal papers. Anything more substantial requires a copyright
-disclaimer or assignment (the latter is preferred, especially for
-larger changes). Both of these involved filling out a short form and
-filing it with the FSF. The process is straightforward -- contact us
-at emacs-devel@gnu.org to obtain the relevant forms.
+The FSF (Free Software Foundation) is the copyright holder for GNU Emacs.
+The FSF is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer
+user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users.
+For general information, see the website http://www.fsf.org/ .
+
+Generally speaking, for non-trivial contributions to GNU Emacs we
+require that the copyright be assigned to the FSF. For the reasons
+behind this, see: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-assign.html .
+
+Copyright assignment is a simple process. Residents of some countries
+can do it entirely electronically. We can help you get started, and
+answer any questions you may have (or point you to the people with the
+answers), at the emacs-devel@gnu.org mailing list.
+
+(Please note: general discussion about why some GNU projects ask
+for a copyright assignment is off-topic for emacs-devel.
+See gnu-misc-discuss instead.)
+
+A copyright disclaimer is also a possibility, but we prefer an assignment.
+Note that the disclaimer, like an assignment, involves you sending
+signed paperwork to the FSF (simply saying "this is in the public domain"
+is not enough). Also, a disclaimer cannot be applied to future work, it
+has to be repeated each time you want to send something new.