many of the "Ethernet" docs entries mention listening mode and credentials

[dmiddlecamp]

Observed behavior: Entries like "Attempts to connect to the Ethernet network. If there are no credentials stored, this will enter listening mode."

I haven't used ethernet much, but is there even a way to enter "credentials" for an ethernet connection that we support? Can we actually enter listening mode on ethernet, and does it do anything? (like do we open a port or web page?)

do these do anything? Should they? Should we mention it under those docs?
e.g: https://docs.particle.io/reference/device-os/firmware/boron/#listen--1

Apologies if this is a silly question