But... the whole point is that you're not only declaring that you want to keep your hosting account open, but also so you keep an eye on the news/announcements, plus keeping the x10Hosting forums community active... If it just becomes a chore and just doing the bare essentials, then the community will suffer, you'll miss out on important news/announcements, and there will be far more accounts taking up valuable server resources when really, the owner can't be bothered to put in the smallest amount of effort.
Think of it this way: If you get an email to remind you to log in, you're more likely to do it, even if you don't want the hosting. If you forget, and notice your account is suspended, you're more likely to think "Hey, I don't really care" and just let the account be terminated. It's a pretty effective system, IMO. Sure, it could possibly be tweaked to take in to account going on holiday without paying for the whole year, but sending out reminders is shifting the responsibility somewhat. Do you really want someone holding your hand and whispering in your ear that it's coming up to that time again, where if you don't log in to the forums, your account will be suspended? Want someone to deal with the toilet tissue after you go for a crap too?
Grow up, stop whinging (not directed at the users in this thread, but this has been requested by others before...), and take responsibility for your hosting account. I dunno if the $3/yr exemption from the inactivity timer is still going.... found it:
http://x10hosting.com/upgrade.php