How to configure the Total Subscription module?
The Total Subscription module has indeed some challenges related to finding out how to get it configured as it should be. Apart from its Community documentation (which you seem to have found already), the best I have found to far is a video tutorial (without sound though ...) that takes you through various admin screens. E.g. to show you some of the blocks related to this module.

Apart from that, to understand what this module is about, I find its readme.txt a bit helpful, as well as the module's project page. Here is a quote from it:


  Total Subscription provides functionality which would allow the user to subscribe to node pages, taxonomy terms, etc. The main feature which distinguishes it from other subscription modules is that it allows subscription for Anonymous along with Authenticated users.