Also, when you say you're --'directing my subscriptions to notify me thru the control panel' are you subscribing to the thread via the 'thread tools' at the thread or are you auto-subscribing?
The auto-subscribing feature is located in >Settings> (left column)General Settings>(topic = Messaging & Notification)Default Subscription Mode> choose through the drop down menu.
Mine is set to -- Do not subscribe.
When I subscribe to a thread I use the thread's 'thread tools' feature and choose to be -- Notified through my control panel only.
When I look at my subscribed threads the far right column under notification says none for each of them.
I don't receive any e-mail. Good luck...