On the login page (/login/index.php), there are usually instructions for new users to the right of the username and password login form. In moodle 1.6 there was a default set of instructions for each authentication method and for most languages - in my case, English and Japanese - so that whenever the authentication method and or the language was changed I did not have to rewrite the instructions.

However, in 1.8 it seems that these default instructions are missing, or at least not accessible via the GUI. So, for example, when switching from "Email-based authentication" (my default) to "No authentication" (for demonstrations etc.) I have to rewrite the instructions in the 'Instructions (auth_instructions)' field in /admin/auth.php. This also means that the instructions can only be seen in one language. In the past, had a user selected to view moodle in Japanese, they would have seen the Japanese instructions relevant to the authentication process.

Certainly, this is not a big issue, but it's rather annoying for admins to have to be rewriting instructions all the time - and rewriting will of course will not take care of the language problem.