I've noticed a couple times that because the legion I'm visiting chose to use AutoRecruit when they posted a recruitment ad; a player from another legion (not going to say who or from what legion) just hopped in, took an alerted planet meant for another member for himself, and left the legion all within the span of a minute. There's really no way to prevent someone from doing that other than to halt any sharing until the recruitment ad expires and I'm sure this is probably going to happen to several other legions out there as people figure this trick out.

So I propose a new mechanic to be introduced where the recruit must wait 24 hours before that person can take an alerted planet or take part in an NPC alert to prevent such theft; but only if that person was brought in via AutoRecruit, there would be no wait time with any other method of recruiting.

Think of it as a probation period; it's long enough for existing alerts to expire, as well if it's a well known enemy to the legion he can easily be kicked during the wait time. On the flipside a leader trusts the recruit he/she can prematurely end the probation.

That's not a flaw of the feature, it's a consequence of using it. Just like the fact that I can target someone when they lob a CM at my ship. That's not a flaw in CMs, it's a consequence of their choice.

Of course that's not a flaw in CMs, it's a flaw in that player's tactics, or a "consequence" in his tactics to use some clever relabeling.
Anyway, back to the point. I'm sure the AutoRecruit feature was not intended to let players hop from legion to legion to legion to legion, grabbing alerted planets and early-killing elites to rake in some good planets and artis along the way, with no intention on becoming a contributing member to any of the legions.

Maybe I worded the title wrong, it's an exploit, not a flaw.

Alright, let me put it this way. Auto-recruit means "let any eligible ship who applies in". Seems like the double edges of that sword are obvious. When you decline the option to review applicants, it's like you've hired a full time "accept button clicker" as an officer.

The same "exploit" could be done by a ship applying to many legions currently and hitting elites or planet shares as soon as they get accepted, which if they apply to all the top 50 legions might be pretty quickly. If they did it for long enough then most legions officers and leaders would know not to accept them. Unless you had an automaton clicking accept.

IMO:
It's a flaw but neither a bug nor an exploit.
It is a flaw because it undermines part of the recruitment feature and is likely not intended from a conceptual standpoint.
It is not a bug because it works as intended from a technical stand point.
It is not an exploit, IMO, because the action is initiated by the party exploited(i.e. the legion that posted open recruitment). Thus it can only be said to be a consequence and I shall not blame anyone that perform the hop.

That all said thou, I would support adjustments that makes auto recruit useful. As of right now, the consequence of auto recruit is so huge that the benefit is not worth it for any sufficiently established legion. Only rookie legion with nothing to lose might get something out of auto recruit. I believe that's quite a waste and can be made better.

Auto recruit has its bonuses, you can go join each legion and talk to the members and offer them a chance to join your own legion.

Perhaps it is only intended for new/low ranked legions though. Someplace where they're not likely to have a leader or officer on most of the time to get potential recruits.

ICBLF makes a good point; the feature does what it's supposed to in the simplest way possible, so it should not be improved.

That could be true. I'd guess Dan is aware of the problem by now, if it was not intended this way. It would be nice if he could come out and say either "oops, I'll make it better" or "open is for newbie legions and it's fine". Frankly I nor anybody else cannot possibly know what the true conceptual goal of a feature is, whether it's meant for all or just some.

I can see where you're coming from and I agree; It is indeed the legion's fault and not necessarily the feature's (afterall the feature is just doing its job).
I'm just trying to say that the feature just needs a bit of tweaking to dullen that other edge of the sword.

Probably, I guess we'll wait and see while this feature is likely still in his spotlight.

this

This just made my day

How is this a Flaw no one forced anyone to use this feature.. It can happen the same thing as a normal way of joining the legion..

This is priceless.. Who ever did this props to them..

Darky thought I did it, but it was just blackfox being paranoid, no planet was taken...although it can happen.

I wouldn't do it to legions that have lots of players, just the ones with a few members and most of them are inactive anyway.

What Spaceman is saying is true.

Theft didn't stop you from doing what you did..

not sure why you edited my quote but ok

if someone was to offer me a slot i another legion i would say no i am content with were i am. if thre is any reason you are not be it not a good base shipment, not enough players near your rank so you cant see npc alerts, not a friendly enough environment ect you should take any offer .

Desperatism comes at a price.