If you check the "notify of replies to this topic" box, you get an email every time someone posts to the topic. I've been on boards (vBulletin powered I believe) where you will get an email when someone posts to the topic, but will not get any more until you actually read the topic yourself. So if there are fifty messages posted while you're away from the computer, you come back to a single email, not fifty.
Does YaBB have a similar feature? And if so, can you turn it on, saint? Thanks.