I always thought if someone hadn't filled out an 'about me' section for their profile, that I could at least see their homepage and just the things set to 'private' would be unseen by me.  But a person I'm trying to get a feel for only has a bookshelf-- 5 books posted currently plus the WL one I requested.  There isn't even a msg that says 'so and so hasn't completed an about me".  They have 'no books on their WL', not set to private like I often see and no reviews or anything else.  I thought the least we could see about someone was their 'join date', but can't even find that.

If someone doesn't have a profile, then clicking on her name will take you to her bookshelf. The profile page only appears once a member has set up a profile, whether or not they have filled out the "about me" section. For members with no profile, you'll generally see tabs for her Bulletin Board, Bookshelf, Wish List, and Reviews, and, as you saw, some of these may be blank. The only place the "join date" appears in on the profile page (or what I think you are calling the home page), so that won't be available. If someone has a profile but has set things to "private", then it will show up differently.

Lots of active swappers don't have profiles. Sometimes you can get an idea of a possible join date by sorting the bookshelf by date, but with only 5 books, you probably can't tell much.

thanks, Patty.    I guess I thought when they added the sections with 'books I'm currently reading", "WL books", "Fave books", and 'fave quotes' that everyone would have that show up even if they had no profile filled out.  I learn something new about how the site works every week it seems.

With no profile all you can do is look at their bookshelf and wl (if they had one).  If they have a paid membership you could send a pm. 

I think some people don't set up a profile for privacy reasons and others don't know about making a profile.