what is a proxy?

and do i need it for building an affiliate website? or is it optional, like an extra security measure?

i have an idea what it is but only from an audience perspective. I would like to know what proxy means from a website owner's perspective. please, give me an honest answer. no agenda or selling your product (because i know BHW is pro-proxies--you advertise it).

kinda same question,

1. Is it correct that if you're building for 1 site you don't need a proxy to mask your ip, but if you are building for multiple sites you should use a DIFFERENT proxy for each site so that you are building for each site with its own ip address?

2. If you are building for multiple sites and use a proxy, is there an easy way to keep your profiles and proxy connections separate if using firefox.

3. Proxy vs VPN ?

You don't need proxies If you are building multiple sites. If you are running a site, you simply don't need it. The only thing that matters is your server IP, but that also If you are going after PBN.

even if I'm building links and citations for multiple sites on the same platform by creating multiple user names ?

Look like you know nothing about the proxy...

You may be mixed the "reverse proxy server" to "forward proxy"...
If you use the "proxy" for your websites, that's the reverse proxy server, easily use,
https://cloudflare.com

Usually, when we're talking about the proxy, it's mean forward proxy to mask own IP address online,
What is the proxy server and type of proxies
https://www.stupidproxy.com/proxy-servers/

How to use the proxy
https://www.bestproxyreviews.com/set-up-proxies/

So...if you can use CDN(It's the reverse proxy) to mask your website real IP, If you want to surf online to mask your Home IP, easily use a forward proxy.