I forgot to mention. . .

While I should have probably done my homework before and realized that direct flights are credited as nonstop for mileage purposes (and tried to book equivalent connecting flights with different numbers when possible), I still think this scheme is pretty unfair. For example, for purposes of the double miles promotion, United defines a segment as "one takeoff and landing," not just a single direct flight. If they count each segment separately for this purpose (thereby causing me to approach the 10 segment cap more rapidly), shouldn't they also treat each segment of a direct flight separately for mileage purposes? Of course they don't have to, but shouldn't they?