Do you have the tab clicked that says "New Pings" instead of "All Pings"? If you have the "New Pings" tab clicked then be sure to click on the line that says "Mark all Read" when you have finished reading them, they then go away. You have to do the clearing. They don't automatically do it like they did before all the changes. If you ever want them back again then click on the "All Pings" tab and they all appear again.
I think they’ve finally fixed the problem. Thank you!