Tracey, I’m also French, and I find this pretty great. So, this may not have much to do with it.
Signaling that it’s the first post of someone and the person should be welcomed (and maybe isn’t used yet to how things work on the forum) seems a good thing to me.
Signaling that someone is back after a while also seems a good thing to me.
Yeah, no offence but these days, I keep on noticing how some people see “problems” and are negative about quite everything. Not saying you are necessarily one of these persons, but that’s what this is inspiring me. And here, the country you are referring to may have something to do with it 
If a very regular poster leaves for several months and nobody notices he wasn’t there for a long period, isn’t that more embarrassing for him ?