diff --git a/docs/reference.md b/docs/reference.md
index e95f142..d2de303 100644
--- a/docs/reference.md
+++ b/docs/reference.md
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ Configuration is read from the following (in precedence order)
 | Field                  | Argument          | Format               | Default                                             | Description                                                                                |
 | ---------------------- | ----------------- | -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
 | ignore_author_re       | \-                | regex                | (none)                                              | Authors to ignore the commits for. Generally used with bots out of your control.           |
-| allowed_author_re      | \-                | regex                | (none)                                              | Require commit author to match this regular expression                                     |
+| allowed_author_re      | \-                | regex                | (none)                                              | Require commit author to match this regular expression. Note that this is only checked when operating on commits, and not on commit files/stdin. |
 | subject_length         | \-                | number               | 50                                                  | Number of columns the subject can occupy                                                   |
 | line_length            | \-                | number               | 72                                                  | Number of columns any line with a break can occupy, including subject                      |
 | hard_line_length       | \-                | number               | 0 (none)                                            | Max number of columns any line can occupy                                                  |