Di I really need to clean my LP's?

It depends on how much value is placed on the caring for the stylus and whether there is a want  for the stylus to interface with the LP, in an environment that presents the minimum of particulate obstructions, especially particulate that are capable of producing signals that are not belonging to the recorded information that is stored in the LP Groove.

The question for an individual who has an interest in experiencing Vinyl LP Replays and the question that is needed to make a decision on, when replaying a Vinyl LP  is, " how purified is one wishing for a Vinyl Groove to be during a replay"

I like my Vinyl Groove to be as clean as I feel I can attain, and to achieve this, I have opted for a Manual Cleaning Method, using purpose produced solutions for the cleaning processes, along with ancillaries to offer a valuable application when using these solutions during the different processes. 

The response from your relative seems quite logical when thinking about particulate that might be detected by the eye, the chances are this will be easily removed and there should be no more detriment to the replay due to it having been present.

When the particulate is in the above 10um size, it is quite able to present itself as an obstruction to the Stylus and for some can be detected as an audible obstruction when the stylus meets it.. 

 Yes. You really haven't heard that record till its been cleaned.

mc, no offense but if you don't understand the various reasons for record cleaning and need to ask then possibly you are one of those who dosen't need to bother.

However even a simple search for record cleaning will turn up hundreds of positive results.  And those with a wide variety of cleaning methods.

What really surprised me was an Audio Note system demo many years ago to our audio club.  The AN rep included vinyl playback in his demo and commented that all one needed to do to clean a record was to play it.  His contention was that the stylus tracing the groove would clear away any dust, grime, or deposits on the vinyl.  I've never known anyone who is half-serious about playing LPs that believes that.  In fact playing records without cleaning can imbed the contaminants and make them sound worse.

In my research before posting this question, results (many from record cleaner manufacturers) contain many assertions without any real facts. 

ilikemiles: How do you know that the mold release compound residue leads to contamination? 

pryso: How do you know that playing a record with contaminants will make the records worse?

I have also been advised that cleaning records often makes them worse, so I want to proceed based on some real evidence.

I just checked my similar query on another forum, where one member suggested the following publication, which I shall review this evening:

https://thevinylpress.com/app/uploads/2022/01/PACVR_3rd-Ed_2022-01-17_Master.pdf