For many years, we had a policy that members with <10 posts could not view the profiles of other members and, unfortunately, this prevented them from viewing their own profiles. This generated more email to me than any other forum issue.
After some investigation, I've changed the policy so that new members can view profiles. To ensure this does not result in any annoyance to existing users, new members are prevented from either emailing or friending existing members until they reach 10 posts. Users with less than 10 posts were already unable to use the PM system.
In short: new users can now view their (and others) profiles (yay) but cannot use this to initiate 1:1 contact in any way.
As always, gratuitous posts made simply to reach this barrier will be deleted and may result in a ban.
Let me know if you have questions, concerns or ideas.
