Is wing chin a respected martial art? I'm thinking of takinf it and don't want to be made fun of for doing a art that is a joke?

it's like all martial arts. It is exactly as good (or not) as the instructor(s).
there are no exceptions to that rule.

Wing Chun is a practical Kung Fu style. If that is your concern, it is actually respected by millions of martial artists around the globe, with decades of experience in martial arts. Some globally well respected teachers of the past and of the present are Yip Man and his two sons (Ip Chun and Ip Ching), Wong Shun Leung and Chu Shong-tin.

Obviously what you are going to do, it depends from you and your future instructor.

Now if I was you, I wouldn't really focus that much on any potential criticism, opinions and points of view, by outsiders, since basically all well know styles, have people saying positive or negative things about them and all people have opinions and points of view. Many of them don't even know anything about it, and many others base their opinion on limited knowledge and experience, or on their own characters, wants and needs. They obviously don't know you or your future instructor.

Regardless of any positive or negative views on it, or any points of view, It is up to you and only, when you are practicing it, to decide if that is for you, or not, based on you and not others.

Wing Chun if taught correctly can be a very effective fighting style. You must find a teacher or master that understands the internal aspect of the system. Try to find a teacher from the linage of Grand master William Cheung.

You should have the self confidence to make a decision despite the possibility of someone making fun of you for it. Be bigger than the bullies.

That depends who you ask,
All styles have their critics there are no exceptions to it

no

Wing chun is a great art although it does lack some things (grappling), but of course there is no perfect martial art. The difficulty is finding someone who teaches wing chun correctly. Too many wing chun instructors teach it as a strength based art, and it isn't.

You have to research that instructor and look at his/her background. Have they fought in many competitions? Are they qualified by the known grandmasters / top masters of the style? After taking a couple of initial classes, it is obvious to see if they know what they are teaching or if they are just trying to take your money (and waste your time).

If the school and instructor is legit, then it depends on YOU to train your *** off, practice the basics in dynamic sparring scenarios, and...did I mention to train like hell. It's all about repetition of the basics and fundamentals. Stance, Stance-Shifting, Footwork, basic attack & defense principles, intermediate attack & defense principles, advanced attack & defense principles, etc. etc.

You have to realize that Wing Chun and other Eastern traditional martial arts are more complicated than something like boxing, kickboxing, or derivatives of these. It is supposed to be systemic and take a long time (years) to acquire the efficient muscle memory to use footwork and the system principles - but only if you have practiced and assimilated the fundamentals correctly.

it mostly receives respect that it has from people who are huge bruce lee fans, that being said bruce lee studied a lot of arts so attributing wing chun to all of lee's success is a bit of a stretch. some would say after the mid 90's and the creation of the first few ufc's where people were invited to try out their arts against other arts and see what happens, that wing chun has not really fared well in comparison to other arts. granted ufc now is not what it was back then and i don't wanna start a whole this art is better than this art thing but, wing chun has been proven over and over again to not really fare well against trained athletic opponents, esp ones trained in muay thai or bjj. just sayin, proof is out there and there are countless videos showing it. i honestly think even western boxing is superior due to its emphasis on athleticism and practicality, but whatever, i know this will make a lot of people butt hurt.