Confused about the notify button

[Chance]

Heya! Newbie question here.

All right, so I'm finding that if I make a post in a thread, then click "show new replies to your posts", then I'll see if someone else posted to the same thread. All is well and good.

However if I DON'T make a post in that thread and I simply press "Notify"... as far as I know, nothing happens. I mean, if I go to Profile > Notifications, then I can see a list of all the threads I've asked to be notified of new messages in, but these don't seem to show up elsewhere. Somehow that doesn't seem right?

My current settings are:
"For topics and boards I've requested notification on, notify me: Instantly"
"For topics and boards I've requested notification on, notify me of: Replies and moderation"

I've also found that if I've posted in a thread, but I don't want to receive updates for it anymore, pressing "Unnotify" does nothing. Notifications for those threads still show up in my "Show new replies to your posts" page.

I'm guessing that "Notify" and "Show new replies to your posts" are two different things for obvious reasons... but I'm still confused.  Could someone explain how these two buttons are supposed to work?

[Kiwi]

For the first one, I'm not sure. It's possible it only works on threads you have actually posted on.

The "show all replies" is a built in part of the site and will show ALL new posts since you were last on - all across the site.

[Chance]

The "show all replies" is a built in part of the site and will show ALL new posts since you were last on - all across the site.

That makes sense!

Now if only I could figure out how the Notify button works. Is it supposed to be like PMs, where if you get one a little pop-up appears? Or is it something else....?

[Kiwi]

You get an email every time there is a post on a thread that you've clicked Notify.

[Chance]

You get an email every time there is a post on a thread that you've clicked Notify.

Ohhhh... that explains a lot. I don't regularly check the e-mail this account is attached to, so that explains why I didn't know. Whoops!

Thanks for clearing that up!