[sinaluna]

Question: if we don't want any "add on text" to the new user's first post, should we just delete the text in the "welcome_addon" template? It would be nice, I think, if this was another option that could be turned off in AdminCP.

You can leave the template, but just make it blank. I think Id rather not add another option for it when the blank addon does the same thing logically.

Also, we should be editing the text in the templates of all of our styles? Why not make these as phrases instead?

You can just edit them in the default style if you want. The really dont work as phrases, considering all the things that you might want to put in a template. You can add graphics, links, and reference just about any variable in a template. Phrases are VERY limited. You have to define exactly what variables you can that are available before hand and they are hard coded in the plugin then. You would lose any flexibility.

You could create your own welcome phrases and include them in your welcome template if you were worried about language issues, but this is too limiting for this product.