Guide to adding temp friends

We are all basically forced to do it - add friends in mass amounts so that we can get ingredients to level up our dishes. It isn’t a necessity, but somehow relying on once-in-24-hours login and chancy quizzes ingredients just doesn’t seem plausible. Who has the patience for that? At that rate, it might take you months to get ONE level 10 dish! So, we go to extreme lengths adding, visiting and deleting accounts, all to improve our gaming experience.

While most of us go about this in a helter-skelter manner, I believe that it is a process that can be broken down into parts. Doing this will greatly increase the results. It won’t guarantee useful ingredients, but it would improve your experience with other RC users. I have compiled a few (understatement ) suggestions on how to get the most out of temporary adding.

Here are the Steps:

1) Decide on a Plan - Post 2
2) Create Restaurant City Groups - Post 3
3) Adding - Post 4
4) Collecting your Ingredient - Post 5
5) Deleting - Post 6
6)* Sour Grapes – Inconsiderate players - Post 7

1) Decide on a Plan

The first thing you have to do is decide how you plan on going about adding these temporary friends. Do you want to go around sending friend requests to people (in the Find New Friends sub forum of course), or do you prefer to create your own thread and let people come to you? There are advantages and disadvantages to both these approaches. You can choose either/or, or like me, do both.

Friend Requesting: This one is the riskier of the two. There are many factors working against you, namely:

a) No matter how many friend requests you send out, not all will be accepted. You are taking a chance. You can easily make up for this uncertainty by sending out many requests.

b) Also, TIMING is the greatest delimiting factor at work. When you take it upon yourself to send a friend request, you really have no idea WHEN that person will accept (presuming that they do at all). You may send out a large volume of requests one hour only to have them being accepted one by one for long hours afterwards. Also, sometimes you send friend requests to someone who says that they are online now, only to have them accept after you yourself have logged off. I could imagine that in both these cases you would have wanted instant acceptance of your request and (almost) immediate receipt of ingredient. No one wants to have to finally collect their ingredient the next day when they log in. And there is of course the chance of the other party deleting you before you had gotten a chance to get yours (they may do this intentionally or unintentionally [if you take too long before you log on again])

c) It is very time-consuming to go from thread to thread clicking on facebook links and initiating requests (text included of course) This task can become very repetitive and frustrating, especially if you aren’t seeing any signs of timely-approval.

d) It is a hassle to reload your page for every new friend request approval notification you get (they usually come in singly and sometimes far apart. Because of horror (well, not horror…) stories that we’ve heard about people deleting 5 minutes after they accept requests, we hasten to collect ours to avoid this. At times you receive a notification of a new friend approval just seconds after we just reloaded our page or are in the process of going from restaurant to restaurant. We don’t want to reload again because the server is not very reliable(we may have difficulties getting in again) or we fear that if we reload now, we might lose some ingredients from other new friends whom we have not visited as yet (i.e. if the person has deleted you already since the last time you loaded your page) So, in essence, with this method, you are more likely to be paranoid.

e) If you over-do it, you can get your facebook account banned. That won't do you any good...

But there are advantages too:

a) Not everyone wants to sit around and wait for people to send friend requests to them. Some of us like to be proactive. Sure, the probability of getting all the ingredients that you entitled to is significantly lowered by choosing this method, but still we want to take the chance. All-in-all we might actually get MORE ingredients this way, as there seems to be an increasing trend towards the preference of the other method. If we are sending out friend requests, we gain a wider

b) If you are the one seeking out new ‘friends’, you may be much more perceptive. You are likely to be quicker to recognize if you had added someone before. You may recognize the thread, or perhaps the profile picture, unlike when you are blindly accepting friend requests.

Creating your own thread: This is a way of marketing yourself. And it is very effective indeed. This too comes with significant advantages over the other method as well as minor drawbacks.

a) Unlike with the previous method, you CONTROL who you accept and who you don’t. When you accept a friend request (usually a couple in a row), the chances of you getting your ingredient are extremely high since time isn’t a factor that would likely affect you. All you have to do is accept all your incoming requests, log in to RC and collect your ingredients. You have the time advantage over others. You can choose to accept friend requests in bulk only when it has reached your set quota. Obviously you don’t want to keep reloading your game for every SINGLE friend request you accept, so you make them wait on you. And only when you feel like you have enough, then you accept, then go collect your ingredients. Also, the chances of these new ‘friends’ getting their ingredient AND deleting you before you had the chance to even log into the game are very low. With this method, you are in a better position to get what you want out of this process: your ingredient.

Despite that great advantage, there are a few limitations:

a) Although it is possible to receive a large amount of requests, it isn’t guaranteed that you will, given the vast competition on the ‘Find New Friends’ sub forum. As mentioned before, less and less people are willing to send friend requests now, as they are averse to the risk of not getting their ingredient if a person should delete them too quickly.

b) The process of re-loading your homepage to check for friend requests, then accepting only when it has reached your set quota can be time-consuming, boring and frustrating, especially if the requests are coming in slowly.

c) In addition to keeping an eye on the Requests section, you also have to work hard to keep your thread bumped. You’d be surprised to see that in no time, your thread can go from the first on the page to the bottom of it. You will increase your chances of getting requests if you keep your thread in the top 10 or so, and don’t be fooled; that takes a lot of work.

2) Create Restaurant City Groups

No matter which plan you decide on, it is strongly advisable to create a separate group for all your temporary friends. This is to separate them from your real life friends or friends you have added for any other application. This makes them easier to find amongst all your friends and can aid in knowing who and when to delete.

If you are using only one method, then make one group for all your temporary friends. Suggestion for name: Restaurant City – Temporary (since sometimes you want to keep some people permanently, they may be a good trader or they may have Pet Society too)

If you use the both methods like me, I suggest creating two distinct groups for the different plans; one for RC users you send friend requests TO and one for those who you received requests FROM. This is so you can better manage when to delete a group of people. Here are some suggestions on how to manage your adding and deleting.

Restaurant City: Sent Friend Requests – Friends will be added to this group slowly. Chances are, since they were on the accepting end, they had received their ingredient before you. So, you need not give them a long time within which to collect it. So, after an hour or so, you can delete each person singly.

Restaurant City: Received Friend Requests – Chances are, friends would have been added in bulk form, since you are the one accepting. With this group, you can allot the delete time to be anywhere from 24 hrs to one week.

*NB: When creating these groups, since these are only temporary friends, you may want make your personal information private. There is a way to prevent people added to these groups from prying into your personal business. To learn how to this, check here

3) Adding

So, everything is set and you are ready to start adding people. Depending on the method you choose, you will do it different ways. Here are some tips for effective adding.

For Method A – Friend Requesting

So, you are looking through all the threads on the forum to add people to get ingredients. I could imagine that you want to get all of them and not just some.
• I would recommend that you decide on a quota. Perhaps 20 friend requests and then you sit and wait.
• The best way to go about doing adding people is to send friend requests to people who say they are online now and are actively bumping their thread.
• I also recommend reading the first post thoroughly. It may contain how the author plans on going about accepting requests and deleting afterward. If you are aware of their process, you are more likely to fix yourself to suit.
• Refrain from sending requests to people who posted on that person’s thread unless you recognize the post as very recent (5 minutes ago). Chances are that person may have posted that 2 weeks ago and are not on at the time. And even if they are on, they might not want any more ingredients. Some threads contain multiple account links. I don’t know how legit that is, but I advise you to stay away. These people may just be hungry for ingredients. They are less likely to care if you get your ingredient. Try to only stick to real persons, who you may be able to establish trades with, rather than people who post a whole group of accounts. These other accounts (all except the author of the thread) may very well accept when you are offline. So, be careful.
• Make sure to type “Restaurant City” or “RC” and add them to the appropriate Restaurant City group with each invite. I say 'type' because if you keep copying and pasting the same message, Facebook is more likely to send you a warning. Spammers usually copy and paste messages, so by you pasting, it would seem as if you're a spammer. You may also want to include your current level with your "RC" note so that the person doesn't have a hard time looking for you in their 'Neighbour List"

For Method B – Creating your own thread

So, you don’t want to have to go through all the stress of clicking links and sending messages so you chose this method. I would imagine you would want as many requests as possible.
• An important aspect of this is the title of your thread. It needs to be eye-catching enough for people to check it out. Some words that grab people’s attention are “Online Now” or “Immediate Add”. “Add me” is just boring.
• In your first post, you may also want to clearly stipulate your method of adding. It may be immediate or bulk (waiting 5 minutes for as much FR’s as possible and then adding). Also, state how long you intend to keep your temporary friends and whether you are open to trade. Many people don’t take the time to read the first post before they send friend requests but still, some do.
• You may want to further advertise yourself my posting in a freshly-created ‘Add me’ thread. The author of that thread will add you, in addition to many others who visit that thread (although it is strongly advisable not to do this) anytime it is bumped thereafter. Once there is still space to post on the first page: advertise! You might find that when you log in on some days, you may have friend requests. This is because the author of that thread was bumping his thread. This is a great way to get more ‘friends’ without doing much work.
• Once the requests start rolling in, I suggest adding in bulk, say about 10 requests at a time, so that you don’t have to reload your game every time you get 1! If your connection is stable, you may choose to accept right away if you like though.
• Don’t forget to add each person to the appropriate group before you click ‘Confirm’ Tracking temporary friends is very important.


4) Collecting your Ingredient

Well no one really has to tell you how to do that, but here are some tips anyway.

• If you just received one or two notifications that your request has been accepted, then you may want to get your ingredient quickly before that other person deletes you. So, when you reload the game, all you have to do is check the little notification box while looking through your ‘Neighbour’ list on RC. They should be easy to locate.
• If you had just accepted a ton of requests (might be coupled with approved friend requests as well) you may want to have a tab opened showing ‘Recently added’ friends. That way you can check from there while looking through your ‘Neighbour’ list on RC. I find this especially useful when I have added a lot of temporary friends at one time. Sometimes you can rely on your memory to tell you who you have or have not visited, but not all times.
• Common courtesy says when you receive your ingredient, leave a note to the owner of the restaurant saying so. You may also thank them for adding you. Optional: you can also make a nice comment about the restaurant layout or the restaurant name if you feel like it. Common courtesy goes a long way. If you had checked through their ingredients and fancy something they have, include in the message asking whether they need whatever it is that you want. Do NOT send trade requests! Some people even send multiple trade requests for one ingredient. Why not ask first?


5) Deleting

You may have already determined how long you want to keep these temporary friends. Perhaps an hour or 24 hours, or maybe you delete right away after a person sends you a message. These are my suggestions when it comes to deleting.

Single deleting – Players usually do this if someone had indicated to them that they have already received a certain ingredient. That’s fine.

Bulk deleting – Many players use this method. Personally, after my grace period has ended, I send a message to the entire group saying “I am deleting you, you had sufficient time…and whatever” This is a good practice. They need not reply. I just want it to be clear that I wasn’t malicious in my act of deleting. Then I delete the entire list. Clean sweep. Next set…

* To prevent adding a person a second time, I send out friend requests to new persons before I bulk delete everyone currently on the list. If I had come across someone who I had already added, I would have been directed to their profile page. This method doesn’t prevent all second-adding. But at least it prevents second adding between 2 consecutive batches. So, once you have deleted one batch, you may full up your group with the other.

6) Sour Grapes – Inconsiderate players

This happens to many of us, not getting or ingredient because of early delete. The following isn’t a solution, it’s just a suggestion. When I had logged on and saw that 2 persons had accepted my friend requests, I hurried on to RC to collect my ingredients. Lo and behold one person had already deleted me and it had not been very long since he accepted. So, I sent him this:

“I sent you a friend request...you accepted while I was offline and you deleted me before asking me if I had gotten my ingredient...BOO!

Have a Good Day =_=”

It’s just a way of me showing my…uh…appreciation…

EDIT: But seriously, this method really does help sometimes Someone deleted me after 28 minutes today and I sent her a message explaining the situation and she re-added me. When I collected my ingredient and told her that she could delete me again, she said that she was going to keep me as a friend because I was nice *blush* So, I made a new friend!

Lesson: Don't hesitate to bring it to someone's attention that you didn't get your ingredient. They may not have deleted you intentionally. Often times, people are so flustered that they end up mass-deleting people. (This is also why I suggested two separate lists, so you can separate people who may need 24 hours from people who might only need 1.) So, message them and explain your situation.

* This approach may only work for people who accepted your request though, because their name would still be in your notification box, so you can easily see who they are and send them a message.