diff --git a/app/src/frontend/user/login.tsx b/app/src/frontend/user/login.tsx
index 5a702610..c5322025 100644
--- a/app/src/frontend/user/login.tsx
+++ b/app/src/frontend/user/login.tsx
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ export const Login: React.FC = () => {
                     <input name="username" id="username"
                         className="form-control" type="text"
                         value={username} onChange={e => setUsername(e.target.value)}
-                        placeholder="not-your-real-name" required
+                        placeholder="please note the user name you choose will be public" required
                     />
 
                     <label htmlFor="password">Password</label>
diff --git a/app/src/frontend/user/signup.tsx b/app/src/frontend/user/signup.tsx
index 153bb99d..9df05783 100644
--- a/app/src/frontend/user/signup.tsx
+++ b/app/src/frontend/user/signup.tsx
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ export const SignUp: React.FC = () => {
                         value={email} onChange={e => setEmail(e.target.value)}
                         placeholder="someone@example.com"
                     />
-                    <InfoBox msg="Please note that if you forget your password, you will only be able to recover your account if you provide an email address." />
+                    <InfoBox msg="Our policy is to avoid collecting personal data wherever possible. An email address is only necessary if you wish to be able to recover your account should you forget your password." />
                     
                     <label htmlFor="confirm_email">Confirm email (optional)</label>
                     <input name="confirm_email" id="confirm_email"