the issue is that we aren't the customers. we're authors trying to make people read our shit, and without a notification system, we're essentially thrown into a cage fight against daily updated stories in a 1k reading list. whether they should have a 1k reading list is irrelevant. one less feature for readers is a minor hassle, but for us, it's a god damn hustle. their "can't be bothered" is a closed sign for us. convenience is a slippery tube slide that sends the consumers to us.
allow me to inflate my ego a little bit: if a reader likes my story, he'd put it in his reading list. problem is, he's also got 40 other titles and they're all getting more frequent updates than mine. it won't matter If I update anyway since I'm just gonna get dogpiled by 1k - 2k chapters again and again in the reading list. any casual readers I'll possibly receive is no more, leaving only a handful of devoted readers to get by.
a notification would bypass this problem immediately, given that it's implemented well. instead of receiving a new update under the table, the reader would receive a notice on the fly that "hey, this obscure book you really liked just updated, give it a look". they might not finish the whole thing, but at least they'll leave a view, give a favourite, write a comment, boost engagement and viola, now I'm somewhat bleeping under the radar.