If I want to get on-site notifications for the posts I follow but not the e-mail ones, what should I do?
Usually when someone likes or quotes a post of yours, the little bell in the top right will have a red number indicating how many new likes/quotes you have. Threads you have posted in will automatically show up on your dashboard if there are any new posts since the last time you viewed the thread, and you can also add threads to that without having to post in them by clicking on the heart icon near the top of that thread's page.