Yes, I think you're right about that. I don't find them annoying. I DO find the emails we were getting for a while annoying. But they're easy to turn off. And the notifications you're talking about aren't all that annoying.
Now you want something I'm pretty sure WILL be annoying? Check this out:
Set these to 'no' or 'off'. You don't need any of them.
new edit... some embedded junk was in the original post... these are correct.
Play Embedded Sounds Alert Browser Window On New Messages Sound for New Message Notification Email notification for New Private Messages Email notification for New Public Messages to Me Show message popup--set to false
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
