Never used a social/dating/sex type of site before but all the users that responded to my nudges and mutual matches or messages, message (or nudge or mutual match) me back not telling me a single thing about themselves. My understanding is if you want to communicate with another user you will have to provide them a motive to do so, so I wrote 170 words about myself in my profile which is 170 words more then everyone else has put in their profile (yes almost everyone I have read is all blank). 24 users that liked me already (in first 24 hours of signing up) know much about me but won't tell me a thing about themselves when they message or nudge me back. I also describe myself as a shy type of guy so the onus should be on the other user to tell me at least a little something about themselves - but no such luck. Please advise how is this supposed to work coz it seems I have no idea how to get the ball rolling.

1. not everyone uses this site for dating.
2. not everyone uses this site for dating.
3. this is a free site (as in not paid for by you to use it).
4. most of the messages will be scammer and fakes in an effort to exploit your weakenesses so they can milk you for their profit.
5. finding someone online to start an offline relationship is difficult, sometimes it requires patience and wisdom.
6. there are actual profile which are written by people intending to find someone but you must read into them, then make first contact.
7. a date is not going to fall in your lap, stop being so gullible.
8. set you mail filters to thin out the riff-raff.
9. mutual match means absolutely nothing, what matters is the personal communication which flows between you and your potential date, everything else is garbage.
10. make sure you compose open, honest & pertinent messages when contacting someone. Communication is a two-way street, it it fails, move on to the next candidate.

oh and one more thing, keep your sex talk reserved for when you actually meet and become intimately involved.

I met my gf on this site nearly three years ago.
We exchanged a few messages (on this site) till we were satisfied both of us were real then we exchanged phone numbers, set up a meet and reality took over. The site didn't make our relationship, we did, in real time, person to person, face to face.

This site is a tool, you either use the tool correctly or you get poor results.
Choose wisely.

it still makes no logical sense why so many users nudge me but won't write a thing when I message them back request them to say something. They know plenty about me and a scammer will always write something but the other users have no purpose to nudge users they like if they are not prepared to write anything in return.

Dude! every post you've written so far is whining about something.

It's the internet. It's a free international site. What do you want really, other than a forum to whine about how tough life on the internet is???

No answer is an answer.
There are as many reasons why someone will not answer as there are someones.

You can try different things.
Editing your profile, changing your messaging tactics or understanding other people may have their own reasons to not answer.

Look at the last visited time. Some people give up and leave or forget their log-in info. Some may not be interested in you for personal reasons. Nobody is required to reply to you.

I respond to no nudges or messages but I'm no longer looking for someone, just here for the forums.

Perhaps you could focus on specific traits and limit your activity to only the ones meeting your requirements.
You also must be patient and persistent in your search.
Most importantly tho is the fact no answer is an answer.
Just move along to the next interest.

I am fully aware no one has to respond. What is weird is getting blank messages from users that viewed my profile and liked it. I simply message back and say "hello, would you like to tell me something about yourself" (because almost everyone will never write a single thing about themselves- It seems pointless to have a profile to meet people if your not prepared to say a single thing about yourself to compel anyone to message you). So after I message them back and say hello and wait for them to respond (as they made the first contact of interest), they don't bother.
There is always room to improve a website but it will never be done if no one speaks up. I'm not a whiner as motowndowntown thinks - I just point out the things I find to be odd/peculiar/illogical/etc.
No one that has any interest in me should send me anything showing their interest if it's not a genuine interest to take a single tiny step forward.
Maybe I've got it wrong and all the users that messaged me accidently clink the wrong button(s) and were actually trying to click on "not interested" instead.