I can only speak from my experience with the only model I have ever visited regularly.
I'm a binge tipper. The nature of the sites that she is (was
) on are focused heavily on private shows or big set piece tips. As a result, at the end of each week I'd have a blowout and spend a fair chunk. However, she also enjoyed company on other days. We would always have an open discussion about it and I would always fade into the background when someone who was spending came into the room. I'm not talking about every day, and I'm not talking about hours at a time. Most of the time, I would be the only person in the room anyway and so some comic relief was always welcomed by her as a means of getting through a fairly boring shift. Unfortunately, she also had a lot of regulars who came in and chatted and didn't binge tip and that's resulted in a situation whereby last night she decided to quit camming.
Now none of the above was a hard and fast rule. Some days I would tip from her profile page without even entering the room that day. But in general, I did big weekly tips rather than small daily ones. But I would always have something for her every week without fail.
To be clear, on the days where I visited to chat and see how she was doing, I would never make a request or even speak in a sexual manner to her.
I think on sites where traffic is low to non-existent at times, I don't think it's unacceptable to visit for a chat without tipping so long as over the course of the week you give her the same amount as you would if you tipped in dribs and drabs. Certainly with my friend, the money was welcomed at the weekend and the mental health boost was welcomed on the other days. 8 hours is a long time to sit on your own, staring at nobody.
When you are talking about sites like Chaturbate with potentially hundreds of users viewing at any one time then a member coming in regularly, chatting and not tipping is just plain rude.
Like everything we've discussed in this thread, there are lots of different approaches. As long as both the model and the member are happy then I see no foul.