Has something changed with the default settings for new threads? It seems that every time I view a new thread, it sets it to “Watching” which means I get notified every time somebody responds.
IIRC this used to default to “Normal” meaning you only got notified (a little number under your avatar at the top menu bar) if somebody replied to one of your posts or mentioned you. Also, IIRC, it defaulted to “Tracking” (Normal plus a count of new replies) if you started the thread.
“Watching” is a notification of every new reply. That seems excessive as a default setting. For example, today I was notified of all the activity on “Viper uncontrollable longitudinal oscillation”. Yes, I responded to it once, in jest (since deleted). Still that shouldn’t change anything.