Jack Douglas
We've added a new kind of notification for system messages. Concern has been raised several times[^1] that it is very easy for a new user to lose access to their account. Not that it is *easier* here, but that there is no *automatic* recovery mechanism because we don't (and won't) insist users supply an email address. We'd been mulling over adding a banner notification for new users, (just for new users because you have already saved your [login key](https://topanswers.xyz/profile?highlight-recovery) somewhere safe, haven't you?) that can be dismissed, just like you see on other popular Q&A sites — but then we asked ourselves "why not just use the notification UI you already have?". Of course that makes it simple to develop, and easier to maintain, but it also: * introduces new users to the notification area the moment they join * doesn't interfere with any other part of the UI * looks nice enough:  We thought about sending out a notification to everyone using TopAnswers to introduce the notifications, but we are sensitive about spamming you, so I'm writing this blog post instead. However you may see notifications from time to time as we are toying with using them for: * 'congratulations' messages when you gain the power to award [an extra star](/meta?q=232#a179) * warnings about any scheduled downtime New users might also get: * 'thanks for voting, please keep doing it' on their first vote * 'thanks for posting' on their first answer But we are always going to try to err on the side of caution. Any messages will be genuinely informative, and infrequent. [^1]: e.g. [here](/meta?q=234)