Checking others' profiles privately isn't a sure thing.

I agree. I am much the same, in that I would visit a profile for various reasons: to follow up on one of their previous posts, perhaps they piqued some curiosity in me by something they said and I want to investigate that further, I want to see where they are from, to read something they may have referred to in a comment/post, and sometimes just because I’m nosy as hell 😉

Basically, I just like to feel I have some idea who this person is before I start any further conversations.
However, once I out that many here are ‘hiding’ their VIP status, I am much more hesitant to visit profiles.

It’s kind of silly, on some level, given that the whole purpose of sites like these is to ‘mingle’ with others and to learn about people in general…no?
Oh well. Sometimes, I still just do it anyway. And if they see that I was there, so what?
It’s just me being nosy 🤷‍♀️

Well, it’s a good idea to them because it’s a way for them to make the money needed to run the site. It benefits them where it matters most ($) and it benefits certain members willing to pay for that privilege because the whole idea feeds on a person’s desire to see who’s interested enough in them to check out their profile. But what many forget is that there is an array of reasons to click on someone’s profile, like your reasoning. More often than not, the only reason I’m taken to someone’s profile is because I misclick, but a desperate for attention/conversation person will instantly misconstrue that as an invitation to something more. Unfortunately it’s just going to be something that happens in the attention starved environment that this place can be.

At least you have the good graces to do so and are an honest soul. I would rather you looked and read my profile like you said you do than not look and message me with a sexual fantasy idea like most of the men do here.

I never message another person privately without reading their profile, and I never return a follow to anyone here either without reading their profile to get an idea of where they are coming from. I personally do not follow folks and only reply to the following with a friendship if we have things in common, mutual respect, and I actually feel they would be a good friend to have, but all after reading their profile first and having some conversation in PM first.

Well I'm VIP and I mask it as you see it. I myself as a big profile reader myself.

I hate profiles that don't say nothing or ones that are so long. That it get published in hard cover and you can buy it on Amazon.

My profile on here is pretty much spot on. I did have a SW friend rewrite it, because many told me that my original was a bit too harsh and quite scary. So that's why for the rewrite.

So what are I'm not sure what your asking for in this posting.

I had no idea that VIP could hide that status. Good to know! Although I haven’t noticed any VIP statuses in awhile, I hadn’t connected the dots. Thanks!

So, when someone clicks on my profile, they’re not really saying they want to have my kids, if they could? Too many rules to keep track of.

That is why we pay for VIP, to see what's out there. Alt accounts with no posts, gifts, or PFP trolling my profile is something I don't like. They usually show up right after I have blocked someone who is nasty and hateful. I block those too. But if its a regular sounding profile name with some sort of pic, and they have posts and gifts I don't pay any attention to it after that.

I don't get the paranoia by some. We have public profiles after-all. Sure I understand if one was visiting 5 times a day would be creepy, but still. The option to make it private or friends only might be nice. But in a way, the whole VIP thing can create issues and a sort of sneaky mindset.

Side note: I post what I'm in the mood for or speaks to me that day, so I change my about me frequently. Not always to be taken as gospel.

I dont think that many people pay for the vip thing, I don't, a lot of people surf them like you do.

Good points! There's some good people here. Maybe more than bad. It's just the trolls who ruin it for the rest of us.

That’s actually a really good point. I’m not a big profile checker but the issues you’ve raised have crossed my mind on the occasions when I did want to take a look.

They make it double dumb by giving vip payees the ability to also block other vip payees from seeing their incursions.

Advantage of vip
I like to see who checked my profile 😎

According to my calculations, yes.

Good skills,, not sure about the vip either

Aha, over my head, then.

Think about how many other social media sites make this function available (I can't think of any others) ... I think there lies the answer ... more often than not it seems like a counterproductive anti-feature, but when it comes to features I tend to expect the opposite of the norm on SW

and why not? they paid to be able to do that? if you dont like it go to another site 🤷🏽‍♂️