>
> If that is what you see, then it's the intended behavior.  That you are 
> not used to it doesn't mean it's incorrect or broken. Functionally, it 
> does the job, and we don't have any better alternatives for the case 
> when a message should be shown when the minibuffer is active.
>

It's true that we don't have any better _built-in_ alternatives, but I 
think what the OP wants is something like the code in the attached file.