diff --git a/sample/dns-example.c b/sample/dns-example.c
index c5ecf7f6..3d73d56d 100644
--- a/sample/dns-example.c
+++ b/sample/dns-example.c
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+/*
+  This example code shows how to use the high-level, low-level, and
+  server-level interfaces of evdns.
+
+  XXX It's pretty ugly and should probably be cleaned up.
+ */
 
 #include <event-config.h>
 
diff --git a/sample/event-test.c b/sample/event-test.c
index b530e8fa..5b4b14c4 100644
--- a/sample/event-test.c
+++ b/sample/event-test.c
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
 /*
+ * XXX This sample code was once meant to show how to use the basic Libevent
+ * interfaces, but it never worked on non-Unix platforms, and some of the
+ * interfaces have changed since it was first written.  It should probably
+ * be removed or replaced with something better.
+ *
  * Compile with:
  * cc -I/usr/local/include -o event-test event-test.c -L/usr/local/lib -levent
  */
diff --git a/sample/le-proxy.c b/sample/le-proxy.c
index 84ed78ad..78474a12 100644
--- a/sample/le-proxy.c
+++ b/sample/le-proxy.c
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+/*
+  This example code shows how to write an (optionally encrypting) SSL proxy
+  with Libevent's bufferevent layer.
+
+  XXX It's a little ugly and should probably be cleaned up.
+ */
 
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <assert.h>