Well c'mon. The fact that one can use email and the fact that one does use email should demonstrate TO THE SITE that the reliability of email is of higher value than whether or not the Eye of Sauron is orange, teal or grey. This is a case of form forcing function. If I've done just fine for three years and only noticed it now, I'm not the problem. It's your feature set.
Never said you were the problem. In fact, I was pretty overt in saying we need to communicate the function better. That said, it seems to be a function you wouldn't require. However, someone like steve who says Hubski doesn't even have his email, relies pretty heavily on it. Perhaps it's one of the HUGE laundry list of optional settings. I do like the idea that if I reply to something it automatically gets removed from my notifications. We should have that. You might be surprised how functional it is though. You can ignore something for a day, come back and reply. It removes the sense of urgency I get from email. I know that I'll still see the comment. That said, it also makes me more lazy about my replies. Case in point, I owe rezzeJ a reply on a post I made and it's been making me feel terrible that I've not yet. But it requires time and thought. If I didn't have notifications, I probably would have sat down right away and replied. -End rambling thoughts.
I get that. However, the "sense of urgency you get from email" drives most of my being. Email is my prime scheduler. I don't like how when I click on the "you've got comments" button (be it on Hubski or Reddit), it ceases to remind you that you have shit to do.