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I like a confirmation email to let me know that my signup to their service really did go swimmingly, but I don't care whether it's by a robot or a human, because I don't read them. The email title "You successfully signed up for Facebook!" gets the point of the message through well enough.

Yes, I understand your point. For some (maybe in your case, all?) products, it can be annoying. But with early-stage products, that first touch-point is critical, and I believe that you want to make your message as authentic as possible. If you've got a working, post PM-fit product, I think you'd be using a whole different set of tactics.

I think most people probably don't agree with this and certainly no welcome email is worse from a marketing standpoint.

Given that you are sending a welcome email, a personalized one is clearly better than a robot generated one, if you can make the time for it.