I believe its part of the WWG1WGA aspect of our thread. Similar to greeting each other at a dinner party. Sometimes it is key to abandoning the stress/conflict state of mind at the end (or middle) of the prior thread, and having a mental reset before going into the new thread. Its sort of a Break time before resuming the chase for knowledge. Its been 1.5 + years and new threads are sometimes an opportunity for a mini break.
Very well said, as usual, MoD
BTW, I'm in... Hi Everyone!
In before my I.Q.

I agree!