I've been waiting on a response since 10/31/07 and I'm tired of waiting. There are others in the system. If I cancel this one, can I order it again or will it go to the same member?

Yes, it will go to the same person unless someone else requested it between your cancellation and reorder.  The wait seems like forever, but its best to wait the full 5 days, otherwise you might have to wait another full 5 days for the order to go the next person who has the book.

How long is the wait?

If it's 5 days then it has been 5 days, so why won't it cancel out? 10/31 - 11/6  is over 6 days now.

They have 5 FULL days to respond, the partial day on which they order does not count. Also, if you will look at your Transaction Archive, it may have already passed on to the next person, and the system automatically ordered the next available copy for you, and you didn't realize it yet.

Well it went to the next person in line.

So what happens to that first person's book? Is it automatically dropped from their bookshelf? If not, it should be.

Yes the book is automatically deleted.  After a few of these (no response) the member's bookshelf is placed on hold or removed entirely.  I know it can be frustrating but the system here is a good one and it works well. 

Char, I had the same problem and just posted a question about this (but in the wrong forum--d'oh!), and got the same answers as you got here.  I didn't know to wait the full 5 days either and have cancelled an order twice after 3 days because I never got a response from the other member.  I am uncertain about requesting this book again, as it will go back to this same member yet again, but I guess I have to so it can "time out" and then maybe get bumped to the next person who has it to offer, who will hopefully at least respond. 

I had a book recently that went through 2 people w/no response. I cancelled the order and put a thread on book bazaar w/the books I wanted. I ended up ordering the book directly from someones shelf.  I was tempted to do my part and weed out the inactives but after the 2nd one I just wanted to know the book was on it's way.   It was mailed the same day. But if you cancel and then just reorder it will go back to the one that you canceled originally.  The book that timed out will be removed from the shelf but one canceled before it times out will just go back as 1st in the FIFO.  So unless you find someone who's shelf you can just order it from, it's best to let the FIFO do it's work.

PATIENCE is an important thing to develop sometime when you are waiting...and waiting...and waiting.  So log off and go read a good book!