User blog comment:Kirkburn/Technical Update: April 23, 2013/@comment-4565203-20130426195906/@comment-3323804-20130426231334

I find that there is little difference between a customized welcome that the Wikia bot gives and giving a personal welcome to users. In fact, the ability to customize your welcome message allows new users to get a personal welcome. Also, it'd be better spent time to contribute to the mainspace of the wiki than to track down all the new users and give them a personal message through manual editing. As well as including the statements in the comment below this one.