Biased here but the annual thread had many uses:
1) It attempted to separate the frequent useless complaining posts from the discussion threads.
2) It was a literal coping mechanism. It allowed for winter lovers to use creativity to express their displeasure at how things were going. Whether it was funny posts, gifs, poetry, whatever, it allowed some to turn their frustration into something that added humor, and in doing so, value, to people that couldn’t complain to others close to them.
3) For me at least, it allowed a platform to satirize the utterly irrational veneration of winter. That’s not a judgment against anyone—because very few of us would be here if we didn’t hold wx in extremely high regard.
There’s a reason it lasted a half decade and now has offshoots in other forums. In the end, I do think it helped people, even if they didn’t realize it in the moment.