diff --git a/etc/syslog.conf b/etc/syslog.conf
index 425ab72ca67e..81955af3bef7 100644
--- a/etc/syslog.conf
+++ b/etc/syslog.conf
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 # $FreeBSD$
 #
-#	Spaces are NOT valid field separators in this file.
+#	Spaces ARE valid field separators in this file. However,
+#	other *nix-like systems still insist on using tabs as field
+#	separators. If you are sharing this file between systems, you
+#	may want to use only tabs as field separators here.
 #	Consult the syslog.conf(5) manpage.
 *.err;kern.debug;auth.notice;mail.crit		/dev/console
 *.notice;kern.debug;lpr.info;mail.crit;news.err	/var/log/messages