My Stored Procedure Hell!

Ok, I posted here recently and received helpful replies which allowed me to work around a problem.  The original question was posted here:
http://forums.asp.net/t/1112669.aspx
But because I'm learning both asp.net 2.0 AND vb 2005 I sort of want to get to the bottom of stuff.  I've found out what was going wrong, but I don't understand it.

The problem related to retrieving an output parameter to a stored procedure.  I was adding the parameter to the command object I was using as follows:
 
cmd.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("@memberid", Data.SqlDbType.Int, 0, Data.ParameterDirection.Output))
 
but it wasn't working (ie I wasn't seeing the return value).   A helpful poster's work around was to instead do this:
 
Dim pMemberId As New SqlParameter("@memberid", SqlDbType.Int)
pMemberId.Direction = ParameterDirection.Output
cmd.Parameters.Add(pMemberId)

 
Having poked around some more, I've discovered that if I use the original code and then type:
?cmd.Parameters("@memberid").Direction
I get the value:
Input {1}
This even happens if I explicitly use 2 instead of Data.ParameterDirection.Output
 
Can anyone explain why this is happening?  What's the point of allowing me to pass a parameter into a constructor if it's just going to ignore it?