bumblefina

I used to be really pro new-player-welcome-message but after the recent new player plugin I think we'll be fine without it. If people want to recruit noobs, all they gotta do is check the application page and send the new player a message asking them to come to their nation or something

I think there should absolutely be the global ding.

Not only is it nice to instantly have a flood of "welcome!"s, its nice to have the player instantly contacted with "Hey, I'm X from X place, and we're an X culture. Does that interest you?"

The only thing here that bothers me is that small, inactive settlements (in the veign of pretty much any tertiary fotm darkelf settlement) cram em in and the player comes to somewhere with one or two other guys rping in a house or something.

With the majority shrinking of settlements, charters, so on - I think that this could be really nice going forth. It's why settlements like Elysium are so successful, 24h public activity with people constantly coming and engaging with new players.

Elysium is the way to go forth. Not settlements with people round-the-clock afking to keep their status. 

Absolutely; very cute feature.