Do you think talking stages (where you are talking/dating, but not boyfriend/girlfriend yet) should be exclusive?

Personally, no, I wouldn't be exclusive with someone in the talking stage. But it completely depends on the preferences of each person. Some people do like to be exclusive at that stage. It's just important to be upfront about what you want and communicate clearly. However if one person wants to be exclusive at the talking and the other doesn't, I don't think you can force them to be.

That’s a personal decision to know it comes with risks

It’s a hard one and I get both sides of the argument. If you’re just talking then I’d see no issue with speaking to other people. But if you’re actively dating and seeing each other often then personally I wouldn’t be dating other people but I know that doesn’t mean the other person would be acting the same way.

Depends, assuming the ‘talking stage’ is just lots of texting then this shouldn’t be a thing/stage at all anyway. After at least a 4-5 real dates (a month of dating without loads of texting between), I would expect exclusivity as you’ve at least established you like each other romantically & want to explore whether you’d be compatible in a relationship, plus you may have slept together then. Obviously good communication is needed, there’s also a difference between a meaningless hookup & actively dating others romantically at the same time.

I don’t think so. Talking is talking. Dating is dating. And bf gf is exclusivity. BUT it all depends on the couple lol. Some people are poly and stuff yk, so you gotta be having the conversations to know the real answer to your question.