Same thing here, although they stopped popping up in the notifications around the same time I got all the new skill achievements.
This did not work for me! I do not have the notifications anymore, but I still have those exclamation points on those items as they were new. Every time I log on...
People choosing to play the game differently to you are not wrong, bad, stupid or playing too much, or too little. They are just playing it differently to you, they don't need you to "correct" them. No one is playing the game wrong unless they are cheating or hurting others.