I have decided to turn off the discobot messages here on meta. So for now there are no messages for new members. Upon logging in for the first time, they are taken to the TOP page which has the welcome topic pinned to the top. They can then read that or choose their own adventure to jump into community discussions.
I think if you are going to create more messages through automation you might also want to turn these off too, to avoid inundating your new members with calls to action.
I will leave meta like this for a while before making further changes, but am interested in setting up an automated message, from my account, to be sent after a day or so to personally welcome members to the community.