I'm not sure everyone who could play against VS are 24/7 on TL and waiting for their opponents to buy players, so they can write down the skills.
Anyway, this:
all contenders know VS's (and every other contender) players skills.
is a moot point. You just don't go around talking about skills of another manager's player(s). It's not forbidden by forum rules of course, but it's unfair and giving advantage to other players.
So I have a guard on U21 team and let's say he has atrocious ID. Let's say you know about that and for whatever reason say that on a forum. Let's say our next opponent's manager reads that and decides for Look inside tactics. Are you still of the opinion talking about skills on forums is ok? What if you were on my place in this story, would you be ok with that? I doubt it. But after only two seasons of playing, I doubt you care about that. Maybe you will after a few seasons.