diff --git a/app/models/admin_dashboard_data.rb b/app/models/admin_dashboard_data.rb
index 86f522147..5004b3dfa 100644
--- a/app/models/admin_dashboard_data.rb
+++ b/app/models/admin_dashboard_data.rb
@@ -176,11 +176,11 @@ class AdminDashboardData
   end
 
   def site_contact_username_check
-    I18n.t('dashboard.site_contact_username_warning') if SiteSetting.site_contact_username.blank?
+    I18n.t('dashboard.site_contact_username_warning') if !SiteSetting.site_contact_username.present? || SiteSetting.site_contact_username == SiteSetting.defaults[:site_contact_username]
   end
 
   def notification_email_check
-    I18n.t('dashboard.notification_email_warning') if SiteSetting.notification_email.blank?
+    I18n.t('dashboard.notification_email_warning') if !SiteSetting.notification_email.present? || SiteSetting.notification_email == SiteSetting.defaults[:notification_email]
   end
 
   def ruby_version_check
diff --git a/config/locales/server.en.yml b/config/locales/server.en.yml
index 712239e16..5e1ca7be1 100644
--- a/config/locales/server.en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/server.en.yml
@@ -606,7 +606,7 @@ en:
     consumer_email_warning: "Your site is configured to use Gmail (or another consumer email service) to send email. <a href='http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=166852' target='_blank'>Gmail limits how many emails you can send</a>. Consider using an email service provider like mandrill.com to ensure email deliverability."
     access_password_removal: "Your site was using the access_password setting, which has been removed. The login_required and must_approve_users settings have been enabled, which should be used instead. You can change them in the <a href='/admin/site_settings'>Site Settings</a>. Be sure to <a href='/admin/users/list/pending'>approve users in the Pending Users list</a>. (This message will go away after 2 days.)"
     site_contact_username_warning: "Enter the name of a friendly staff user account to send important automated private messages from, such as the new user welcome, flag warnings, etc. Update site_contact_username in <a href='/admin/site_settings'>Site Settings</a>."
-    notification_email_warning: "The notification_email setting is blank. Please update it in the <a href='/admin/site_settings'>Site Settings</a>."
+    notification_email_warning: "Notification emails are not being sent from a valid email address on your domain; email delivery will be erratic and unreliable. Please set notification_email to a valid local email address in <a href='/admin/site_settings'>Site Settings</a>."
 
   content_types:
     education_new_reply: