Its not the same. Because if I add you as a friend you can see my profile, but as a private profile nobody can see it. That has nothing to do with semantics and I described above why It may could work with a Account "GOG Connect" as a friend. So no its not the same point at all.

Do you have launch codes or something in your Steam profile?

I don't get the secrecy bit.

Now if seeing your Steam profile means people can see your real name or email address I can understand your concern, but that isn't the case, is it?

Personally, I'm sticking with my theory about the 56 hours of HuniePop.

I have a hell of a lot more than 56 hours in that game! :P

I'm not sure how one account could reasonably have some tens of thousands of friends. Plus, they'd still need to work out some deal with Valve for that.

It can't. There's a limit that increases with your Steam account level.

...56 hours of Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo, maybe?

nvm, messed up tabs.. '

but honestly, I can't believe it people complaining about free games they get..

Why all the hostility directed at the desire to remain private? It's a valid personal choice and I also favor high privacy settings. I also close the doors to my house, close the blinds/draw the curtains at night, cover the cargo area of my car and lock it. I'm not yet ready to live in the panopticon.

It's unfortunate that Connect requires a public profile, but at least it's not permanently needed. I can live with that, but would prefer a solution that respected my privacy as well.

GoG Connect should definitely not require a public profile. GoG should definitely seek to make some sort of deal with Valve about this.

People here are ridiculing the desire for privacy, but any social networking profile can impact your real life in very significant ways.
Companies that farm big data can use it for targeted advertising or to adjust your credit rating and employers can use it to decide whether to hire you.

Even if you don't have 100s of hours in embarrassing games, as someone commented earlier, big spenders might not want to advertise how many games they own to everyone.