Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-3088201-20140123022032/@comment-5448890-20140123225000

In my opinion, if you would like to greet someone, do so! But if you also don't feel like it or are busy, don't bother.

You must also always take into account that most people aren't just on chat: they're playing a game, writing an article, watching a movie, slaying a dragon, something else that's taking half their attention--and as Sannse said, especially on Community Central, users are leaving and entering faster than on most chats. Greeting users, going through the mannerisms, that's all fine and well, until it becomes the sole purpose of the chat and everyone forgets that we're supposed to help users and not just constantly toss around greetings and "How have you been"'s.

My personal opinion on this is that anyone is free to greet or not to greet, and if you want to be greeted, there's usually going to be at least one person say hi: if not, say hi first--you'll usually get an all-around good response.

Now, granted, for people who have close friends on Wikia, your greeting will probably go a lot farther--do not be ashamed if you're not getting this same treatment, because not everyone is going to be best friends with everyone else: take me and my best friend Sister Serenity, for example. I usually watch for her on chat every so often, glancing at the user rail, and listen for her pings; and she always gets my tip-top greeting. But, she is my best friend, and I can do no less; but I, for my part, try to be courteous, and greet users--if not when they come in (from not having been in for a while), then when they greet me or the chat.