I've been re-watching some episodes of SG-1 lately, and something struck me that I hadn't really noticed before: the destination gate spins before establishing a connection.
That got me wondering if the spinning just indicates that something's happening, like the throbbers on interactive websites, or whether there's actual meaning to it.
Is there any canon, in any of the shows/movies or the spin-off books, to indicate that this spinning is anything other than a progress indicator?
EDIT: To clarify, I'm not interested in the mechanics of dialling out; I'm curious about the process by which ates establish an incoming wormhole.