[Discussion] No Requirement of Stamps for UCR Recruitment

[Vuon]

Due to the increased number of recruitment telegrams sent out, what begins to matter most is the time between a nation's founding and when the first recruitment telegrams arrive to their Inbox. However, as a result of major Stamp usage across an increasing number of major UCRs, it truly does not feel possible for one to simply start up a region from scratch and use API to gain a substantial population. Using templates for telegrams, though faster in sending, can only be sent every 40 seconds, and requires constant micromanagement for an extended period of time to be useful.

In this effective telegram inflation, where telegrams now recruit less than before and Stamps are almost, if not most definitely, required if one is to build a region from scratch, could there be accommodations made so that it is not effectively required to have Stamps or an excess amount of time on weekends to properly create a regional community?

[Trotterdam]

Try joining a region that already exists.

[Frisbeeteria]

Given that (by my estimate) the majority of new nations are puppets who ignore recruitment, I don't think removing stamps would actually give you that much improvement. Most telegrams are ignored and wasted. Not seeing a quick answer to that in your solution.

A bigger part of your problem is that you currently reside in a vanity region, i.e. one named after your nation. Why would anyone want to join yours when they could start their own? The larger and more popular non-puppet-dump regions succeed because they're able to draw from a larger audience based on the region name. Whether it's The Communist Bloc or International Democratic Union or Gay, they have an intrinsic audience that draws new nations despite (or in addition to) recruitment.

Also, those stamps pay to keep the servers running, so I'm not excited about removing our revenue stream and having to get more ads.

[Arkhall]

Due to the increased number of recruitment telegrams sent out, what begins to matter most is the time between a nation's founding and when the first recruitment telegrams arrive to their Inbox. However, as a result of major Stamp usage across an increasing number of major UCRs, it truly does not feel possible for one to simply start up a region from scratch and use API to gain a substantial population. Using templates for telegrams, though faster in sending, can only be sent every 40 seconds, and requires constant micromanagement for an extended period of time to be useful.

In this effective telegram inflation, where telegrams now recruit less than before and Stamps are almost, if not most definitely, required if one is to build a region from scratch, could there be accommodations made so that it is not effectively required to have Stamps or an excess amount of time on weekends to properly create a regional community?

*ANGRILY POKES AT MY 130 POP REGION USING ONLY API*

[Trotterdam]

Given that (by my estimate) the majority of new nations are puppets who ignore recruitment,

There should be a checkbox on the nation creation page to immediately disable recruitment telegrams, so those puppets don't get piled with recruitment relegrams before they can click over to their telegram settings. This benefits both the puppets (who don't have to rush and change their telegram settings first thing before their inbox floods) and the recruiters (who don't waste stamps sending telegrams to people who weren't interested anyway).

Alternatively, recruitment telegrams could only start being sent a few minutes after nation creation, and be cancelled if the nation already moved to another region during that time. This would accomplish much the same effect, but without triggering an instinctive "Do I want spam? Nope!" reaction in every new nation regardless of puppet status.

[Vuon]

Due to the increased number of recruitment telegrams sent out, what begins to matter most is the time between a nation's founding and when the first recruitment telegrams arrive to their Inbox. However, as a result of major Stamp usage across an increasing number of major UCRs, it truly does not feel possible for one to simply start up a region from scratch and use API to gain a substantial population. Using templates for telegrams, though faster in sending, can only be sent every 40 seconds, and requires constant micromanagement for an extended period of time to be useful.

In this effective telegram inflation, where telegrams now recruit less than before and Stamps are almost, if not most definitely, required if one is to build a region from scratch, could there be accommodations made so that it is not effectively required to have Stamps or an excess amount of time on weekends to properly create a regional community?

*ANGRILY POKES AT MY 130 POP REGION USING ONLY API*

How long did it take you, and what was your recruitment rate?

[Frisbeeteria]

How long did it take you,

First RMB post was "69 days ago". Not long, apparently.

[Arkhall]

*ANGRILY POKES AT MY 130 POP REGION USING ONLY API*

How long did it take you, and what was your recruitment rate?

Roughly two monthsish.

Recruitment rate? We got like 3-4 nations a day, sometimes. Sometimes none, sometimes 5-6.

[Spam Spam Spam]

Given that (by my estimate) the majority of new nations are puppets who ignore recruitment,

There should be a checkbox on the nation creation page to immediately disable recruitment telegrams, so those puppets don't get piled with recruitment relegrams before they can click over to their telegram settings. This benefits both the puppets (who don't have to rush and change their telegram settings first thing before their inbox floods) and the recruiters (who don't waste stamps sending telegrams to people who weren't interested anyway).

I think this a fair compromise which could work

[Consular]

We still have the three streams system in place right? So stamps aren't stopping other recruitment methods from being effective at all.

[Jebslund]

Anything worth building takes time, mate. I know it's hard in our world of instant gratification, but you've just got to knuckle down and put in the time and effort or cough up the money for stamps. You're not gonna start at 100 any more than you'd start a Pokemon game with a Lv 100 legendary.

[Imperium Anglorum]

I use API recruiting. Over my term as delegate, Europe’s nation count has risen from ~400 to over a thousand. You say API isn’t effective. You’re wrong. It is.

Beyond the more esoteric financial arguments Fris gives, and the facts of vanity regions, I don’t see this as anything more than griping about a problem that doesn’t exist. I won’t digress onto why it is you can’t recruit new nations, but it certainly is not a failure of the API.

[Trotterdam]

You say API isn’t effective. You’re wrong. It is.

Vuon's main complaint was that the API "requires constant micromanagement for an extended period of time to be useful", not that it's incapable of being effective.

[Imperium Anglorum]

I have literally not remoted into my server for four months. I’ve not physically been to the server since October last year. But through it all, the API telegrams are still sending. Using the API doesn’t require any effort or micromanagement at all.