Must wipe dipstick when checking oil?

This is one of these "from left field" questions I find funny. You really should have a clean dipstick clear of oil to get a good reading. The best time to check the oil is when the engine is off and cold. Still, I just always gave the dipstick a brief wipe.

 

I seen a guy or two in my time pull a stick on the fuel island with the engine still running. Lol!
If you got some on the stick when idleing you now it’s got plenty of oil in it,
but not the correct way to do it.

 

If the truck has been sitting for a couple hours, you're probably safe with whatever reading you get just pulling and looking, but how difficult is it to wipe and check again? I sometimes wipe two pulls.

 

If you dont wipe the stick it will give you a false reading as the rotation of the crankshaft will splash oil onto the dipstick.

 

If you cant find a rag. Presuming your wearing long pants (blue jeans) you can use your pants leg end to wipe the stick. It isnt that noticeable.

 

I wipe the dipstick on the cuff of my pants all the time, thats why they put them there.

 

Answer my silly girl question. My international 2020 dipstick is the kind that has a 1/4 turn to lock it. If I give it that turn the oil is smeared. If I don't turn it it's not exactly all the way down.
So I look in the morning when it's cold, wipe it off, put it back in without the twist and look again. This truck is only a baby at 92k so I only look maybe 1x a week and it never shows leakage so I'm not worried. I did top off 1 time with 1/2 a jug way back when I'd had it a month or so.
So what's the proper procedure for my truck??

 

Wipe and put it back in. More than once I've had the stick show more oil on the initial pull than any subsequent ones for some reason.

 

My old Kitty has 2 seperate sets of markings. Engine off and engine low idle. Its quite common on equipment to have markings like that.