Can I get the normal alerts if I don’t submit a first level answer?

1. Say I notice a QA that looks interesting and I want to follow it.
In the previous UI, I just clicked “Follow” and the thread was added to my watch-list.
2. Say I write a comment to somebody elses answer,

In both these cases, the only way to get alerts is to click on the envelope icon at the top. And then I get asked a bunch of questions:
How often do I want alerts, perhaps weekly?
Do I want these alerts together with my other alerts?