diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/LinkMatrixAccountForm.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/LinkMatrixAccountForm.tsx
index 49dd93b5..e27f5750 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/LinkMatrixAccountForm.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/LinkMatrixAccountForm.tsx
@@ -108,7 +108,13 @@ export function LinkMatrixAccountForm({
           value={account}
           pattern={ACCOUNT_PATTERN}
           title="1-63 chars: letters, digits, underscore, hyphen"
-          placeholder="e.g. primary"
+          // Not "primary" — that reads as naming the hive-provided default
+          // account (`main`, reserved: see `hyperhive.matrixAccounts`'s own
+          // module doc), which this route can neither create nor touch.
+          // Picking a name with no relationship to that default avoids the
+          // misread entirely, rather than requiring a reader to already know
+          // the reservation to see through it.
+          placeholder="e.g. ops-relay"
           required
           onInput={setAccount}
         />