diff --git a/docs/tutorials/writing_a_series.rst b/docs/tutorials/writing_a_series.rst
index d04abb545..a485b6be6 100644
--- a/docs/tutorials/writing_a_series.rst
+++ b/docs/tutorials/writing_a_series.rst
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ tests that are normally run just to make sure the machine works.
 
   # This is the body of the series file. This is where we define test sets,
   # which are groups of tests that we want to apply the same configurations to.
-  series:
+  test_sets: 
 
     # We'll call this test set 'front_end_tests' and run all the tests that
     # don't run on compute nodes with this set.
diff --git a/lib/pavilion/series_config/file_format.py b/lib/pavilion/series_config/file_format.py
index 61172639c..259bb6c76 100644
--- a/lib/pavilion/series_config/file_format.py
+++ b/lib/pavilion/series_config/file_format.py
@@ -71,9 +71,16 @@ class SeriesConfigLoader(yc.YamlConfigLoader):
             'ignore_errors', default=True,
             help_text="Whether the series ignores build and/or scheduling errors."
         ),
-        yc.StrElem(
-            'restart', post_validator=make_invalidator(
-                "The series config option 'restart' has been replaced with 'repeat'.")
-        )
+        yc.DiscontinuedElem(
+            'series',
+            help_text="Series parts are now configured under the 'test_sets' key in an effort "
+                      "to reduce overloading of names. The keys under 'test_sets' are the same "
+                      "as they were under the 'series' key, so all you should need to do is "
+                      "change 'series:' to 'test_sets:'."
+        ),
+        yc.DiscontinuedElem(
+            'restart',
+            help_text="The series config option 'restart' has been replaced with 'repeat'."
+        ),
     ]
     """Describes elements in Series Config Loader."""
diff --git a/lib/yaml_config/__init__.py b/lib/yaml_config/__init__.py
index 6d0a2380b..f634a68e6 100644
--- a/lib/yaml_config/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/yaml_config/__init__.py
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ class BirthdayPartyConfig(yc.YamlConfigLoader):
     ConfigDict,
     ConfigElement,
     RequiredError,
+    DiscontinuedElem,
 )
 from .loaders import (
     CatYamlConfigLoader,
diff --git a/lib/yaml_config/elements.py b/lib/yaml_config/elements.py
index 0c4ff5700..e928cd9d0 100644
--- a/lib/yaml_config/elements.py
+++ b/lib/yaml_config/elements.py
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@
 class RequiredError(ValueError):
     pass
 
+class DiscontinuedError(ValueError):
+    pass
+
 
 class ConfigDict(dict):
     """Since we enforce field names that are also valid python names, we can
@@ -440,3 +443,25 @@ def merge(self, old, new, **kwargs):
 
     def __repr__(self):
         return "<yaml_config {} {}>".format(self.__class__.__name__, self.name)
+
+
+class DiscontinuedElem(ConfigElement):
+    """This element expects to never get a value. If a value other than
+    None is given, it throws a ValueError with a predefined warning to 
+    the user."""
+
+    _type_name = 'Discontinued' 
+
+    def __init__(self, name=None, hidden=True, help_text=""):
+        
+        super().__init__(name=name, hidden=hidden, help_text=help_text)
+
+    def normalize(self, value, root_name='root'):
+        """Throw an error if we get any value other than None."""
+
+        name = root_name if not self.name else self.name
+
+        if value is not None:
+            raise DiscontinuedError(
+                "Key '{}' is no longer valid: {}"
+                .format(name, self.help_text))
diff --git a/lib/yaml_config/structures.py b/lib/yaml_config/structures.py
index f9e22345d..9a73399b3 100644
--- a/lib/yaml_config/structures.py
+++ b/lib/yaml_config/structures.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 from .elements import (
     ConfigElement,
     RequiredError,
+    DiscontinuedError,
     NullList,
     ConfigDict,
 )
@@ -517,6 +518,9 @@ def normalize(self, value, root_name=None):
 
             try:
                 ndict[key] = elem.normalize(val, root_name=key)
+            except DiscontinuedError as err:
+                # This is thrown because the key is no longer allowed.
+                raise
             except ValueError as err:
                 if isinstance(val, dict):
                     msg = [err.args[0]]