I can't stand empty profiles. It only takes a few minutes to fill in a little bit of details, something about favourite music, or books, or hobbies.
I waffled a bit in my profile, but it only took me about half an hour to set up.

I agree with mirrorpool about the "check out my profile and get back to me" You take one look and think "Get back to you about what exactly?"

Discreet encounters puts me off too... I don't wana be anyone's 'dirty little secret' like they're prob in a relationship... but even if they're not it suggests a 'dodgey' something or other plus I'd want someone to be proud to be seen with me.

If you are genuine and honest about yourself,and there is someone who is also genuinely interested in wanting to know you,then sending them pictures shouldnt be an issue.For me this works both ways because if I read a profile and feel a vibe,I am more likely to respond to it without it having a picture to be honest. Yes profiles with pictures do help no doubt,but they can also cloud ones judgment too,as we tend to judge ourselves daily,based on appearance. In my experiences ,pictures may or may not help .I have had women prejudge me and form this picture in their mind about who I am,all based on my pictures,without them really wanting to get to know me.Then again I have had women who have genuinely shown an interest in me ,without seeing a picture or two,which for me says alot more in a sense.
Personally ,mental stimulation and intelligent conversation can compensate for pictures,especially if there a genuine interest from both of you,and especially if you plan to meet up for that initial coffee,lol

www.myspace/rasobi

mostly pictures tell almost everything about a person on this site ... So what is the most complete profiles are much more about a certain person ... I know I was general. and we can repeat what they have said the above. Only need to tell you something haha lol

PS: excuse my English ... not so perfect lol

Some people say it's like looking through a catalogue, and with that in mind, something catches my eye, then I take a look at further details, might also enlarge the pic, then formulate some questions, some desirable and some essential and take it from there..... do I buy on line and send it back if it doesn't match the appearance or performance or do I go to a local store where I can see it first, touch it and make a decision about whether it will be everything I thought it was?
If there's no pic in the catalogue when I've looked up certain information, most times I'll just choose to shop elsewhere unless it's something rare, in which case I may put myself out a bit more to discover if it's really what I want.
So are we all like catalogue people?

Some people have said that not having a pic is a but suspicious, like maybe the person is married or not single and doesn't want to be identified. It could just be they feel ashamed to be on a dating site.
All I know is I doubt I would message anybody without a pic. I don't think that would be shallow, if you are looking to meet somebody then you are going to see them at some point, might as well start at the beginning.

Some people ARE embarrassed about being on a dating site as you say. I've been sworn to secrecy by people I know. Not easy when the guy ended up being 'in common ' with 2 of my closest friends, one being his ex and the other he got to know and met from a dating site.
Some men use the 'no picture, I'll send you one' to get into your msn or private details before you might be ready.... I don't like that... I've had to block a few that turned out to be pests.

Saturday I spotted some woman on here who caught my eye. Her profile said she loved having fun, but it didn't say what she did that was actually for her, all there was was a ditty about fun (F is for blah blah, U is for blah blah). No other info in her about me section. So I decided to message her and ask her what she thought was fun as I wasn't able to tell from her profile.
She read the message, viewed my profile and deleted the message.
Perhaps it was too difficult a question for her?