Someone did ask! IIRC, a one-off poster dropped by one of the early threads and asked what was the point of them, was it just curation or discussion or what?
Of course, that was at the same time as we had a dedicated derailer or two using techniques like inventing rules of one kind or another, and then tying up the thread arbitrating whether the unwanted, imaginary rules had been followed.
So I just assumed the person asking for a definition of what the threads were for, was at the same game.
Not that I could have given a definition anyway – we may have settled somewhat into habits, but we haven't started from rules and definitions. Except, I suppose, to post in good faith and try not to propagate anything untrue or misleading (but that's a code for all of life anyway).