Thanks for the reply Oliver! 

It's not exactly what I needed to disable, but at least that gives me some direction and in fact I had already looked through that file but had no way of knowing that the second parameter would stop the email.  I'd like a lot more file control over when the system sends emails, who knows how long that will take to get into the core.  Oh well, guess I can pour through that file if I really want to thin out the garbage emails using trial and error...it's a shame for every 2 things I love about DNN there is one or more that make my coworkers say "why does it do this" when all we need is a framework for our internal Intranet.  Someday....