Hi all,

today again I asked myself: How is it possible that a new member here requests a contact but hide all his information, i.e. information is shown to contacts only.

What is the benefit of a 'hidden membership'. When someone asks me to connect with him, I want to have an idea of this person. I want something to know about his interests, his likes and dislikes :)

Therefore to my opinion, people who want to hide their information should not send out requests as it might be harsh to be declined. I actually decline people with a 'private profile'. It might be wrong and the person might become a great conversation or business partner... At least I want to have an idea of him/her.

Take it from the other side: Why should I join your list? You know a little bit of my interests, you may have read something from me - so you have an idea who I am. When things are doing well, I only have photo (is it really you?) which does not communicate anything.

Different then in real life, I don't feel vibrations from you to me, I cannot read from your face or postures of your body... When taking part in a Social Net on the Internet  some further information is needed. And yep it is already difficult to stay in contact with all the contacts... at least from time to time.

I don't know what others are looking for when connecting with members - for ex. for me it should be a similar interest, so we can discuss and change ideas, or knowledge I don't have, so I can learn from this person etc.

I have to admit that the interaction with my connections here or on other places is low because it takes time, time I don't have...

Therefore a person who joins APSense because of social interaction should think twice before making his/her profile private and ask others to connect with him/her.
Another way could be, when the private status is so much loved, to explain, why he/she wants to be connected and what are his/her interest.