Redirect page removal - server load?

[MikeWarner]

I have used the hack that removes the redirect pages that you get when searching, posting.....etc.

I was wondering why they were there in the first place? Is there a server load penalty by removing these pages - I guess they could act as a 1 second breather for the server.

Please let me know, as I am trying to reduce server load on my site and if removing this hack will help, I would be willing to do it.

Thanks