diff --git a/docs/settings.txt b/docs/settings.txt
index 04795ca54bb..3f928a22347 100644
--- a/docs/settings.txt
+++ b/docs/settings.txt
@@ -197,9 +197,8 @@ of (Full name, e-mail address). Example::
 
     (('John', 'john@example.com'), ('Mary', 'mary@example.com'))
 
-Note that Django will email all of these people when there's an error, see the
-section on `error-reporting via email`_ for more information.
-
+Note that Django will e-mail *all* of these people whenever an error happens. See the
+section on `error reporting via e-mail`_ for more information.
 
 ALLOWED_INCLUDE_ROOTS
 ---------------------
@@ -428,7 +427,7 @@ IGNORABLE_404_ENDS
 
 Default: ``('mail.pl', 'mailform.pl', 'mail.cgi', 'mailform.cgi', 'favicon.ico', '.php')``
 
-See also ``IGNORABLE_404_STARTS`` and ``Django Error-reporting via Email``
+See also ``IGNORABLE_404_STARTS`` and ``Error reporting via e-mail``.
 
 IGNORABLE_404_STARTS
 --------------------
@@ -437,7 +436,7 @@ Default: ``('/cgi-bin/', '/_vti_bin', '/_vti_inf')``
 
 A tuple of strings that specify beginnings of URLs that should be ignored by
 the 404 e-mailer. See ``SEND_BROKEN_LINK_EMAILS``, ``IGNORABLE_404_ENDS`` and
-the section on `error-reporting via email`_.
+the section on `error reporting via e-mail`_.
 
 INSTALLED_APPS
 --------------
@@ -652,7 +651,7 @@ Whether to send an e-mail to the ``MANAGERS`` each time somebody visits a
 Django-powered page that is 404ed with a non-empty referer (i.e., a broken
 link). This is only used if ``CommonMiddleware`` is installed (see the
 `middleware docs`_). See also ``IGNORABLE_404_STARTS``,
-``IGNORABLE_404_ENDS`` and the section on `error-reporting via email`_
+``IGNORABLE_404_ENDS`` and the section on `error reporting via e-mail`_
 
 SERVER_EMAIL
 ------------
@@ -993,23 +992,35 @@ Also, it's an error to call ``configure()`` more than once, or to call
 It boils down to this: Use exactly one of either ``configure()`` or
 ``DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE``. Not both, and not neither.
 
-Error-reporting via email
-=========================
+Error reporting via e-mail
+==========================
 
-When ``DEBUG`` mode is turned off, Django will email the users listed in the
-``ADMIN`` setting whenever a server error occurs. This is most commonly when a
-resource is not found (404 errors), or when there's been an internal server
-error (500). This gives the administrators immediate notification of any errors.
+Server errors
+-------------
 
-You can tell Django to stop reporting these 404's by adding the page to the
-``IGNORABLE_404_ENDS`` setting:
+When ``DEBUG`` is ``False``, Django will e-mail the users listed in the
+``ADMIN`` setting whenever your code raises an unhandled exception and results
+in an internal server error (HTTP status code 500). This gives the
+administrators immediate notification of any errors.
 
-    IGNORABLE_404_ENDS = ('xmlhttp.php')
+To disable this behavior, just remove all entries from the ``ADMINS`` setting.
 
-Or, you can ignore it using the start of the request path, by using the
-``IGNORABLE_404_STARTS`` setting:
+404 errors
+----------
 
+When ``DEBUG`` is ``False`` and your ``MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES`` setting includes
+``CommonMiddleware``, Django will e-mail the users listed in the ``MANAGERS``
+setting whenever your code raises a 404 and the request has a referer.
+(It doesn't bother to e-mail for 404s that don't have a referer.)
+
+You can tell Django to stop reporting particular 404s by tweaking the
+``IGNORABLE_404_ENDS`` and ``IGNORABLE_404_STARTS`` settings. Both should be a
+tuple of strings. For example::
+
+    IGNORABLE_404_ENDS = ('.php', '.cgi')
     IGNORABLE_404_STARTS = ('/phpmyadmin/')
 
-Finally, if you wish to turn off this email reporting completely, just remove
-all entries from the ``ADMINS`` setting.
\ No newline at end of file
+In this example, a 404 to any URL ending with ``.php`` or ``.cgi`` will *not*
+be reported. Neither will any URL starting with ``/phpmyadmin/``.
+
+To disable this behavior, just remove all entries from the ``MANAGERS`` setting.