LOGIN - Placeholders won't display input value

Hi
I have successfully installed LOGIN and REGISTER on a new website.
I manage to register a new user, send the activation email and upon clicking the encolsed link, successfully return to the webpage with the user logged on. Fine !
I have 2 issues I’d be grateful for advice on PLEASE !
a. I would like to display a "Freddie Smith is now logged on" kind of message so I have a line such as [[+username]]is now logged on in my template but the username placeholder will not show the user name in the browser. However the user name as registered works fine when I try to log on and the same username placeholder displays the username ok in the activation email. ANY IDEA WHY THE PLACEHOLDER WON’T DISPLAY ITS VALUE? Same problem with any other placeholder eg. password, fullname, etc.?

b. The othere issue is ...is there a way to activate the users account upon return from the link in the email BUT without logging the user straight away? Would like the user to link back from the email to an "Account has been activated" resource but then have to login manually.
THANKS in anticipation.
Begining to really appreciate modx and the community (despite the teething problems!)

Sorry, this is a really belated response, but you probably want to look at a couple pages:

http://rtfm.modx.com/display/ADDON/Login.Basic+Setup

And you can use the Personalize Snippet to display a name:

http://modx.com/extras/package/personalize