Pending User

Instantly with (self)registration you are attributed role and rights of "Pending User".

Intermediate state from an Anonymous User and Editor.

Preferences
among many others
 * 1) User Profile: display name, gender, interface language, e-mail alerts ...
 * 2) Appearance: skin (template), preferred images size ...

Watchlist
You can add/remove pages into your watchlist to easier follow all changes in articles, discussions etc you are interested in.

you can get alerted about changes in the watchlist by
 * 1) checking the watchlist when logged in
 * 2) also when checking the recent changes - the watched page are displayed in bold
 * 3) getting emailed (if this selected in your preferences).