Eh up
I can understand the use of these tools to increase traffic to the site, which is good because it keeps it going for everyone to enjoy.
As a newbie on this board, interested and wanting to join in (once I've found my feet), not being able to ignore/turn off notifications is off-putting, hinders engagement, and makes me not want to bother. I'd like to see the most recent "real" posts, to see if there's summat to which I could contribute.
The fact that there seems no way of hiding these posts - for those logged on - says at best, "lack of technical ability to tune the forum software," and at worst, "don't care what people think."
To re-iterate: "social integrator" tools can be useful for drawing people in. But if what they experience when they get here is irritating, then they're not going to stay and any net benefit turns into a net loss.
It seems the best solution would be to keep it (so it does its job) but find a way so it doesn't annoy folks. Is there a way to do that?