Member search...confused

I am more than a little confused.  I received an email from someone preparing to have surgery today.  She asked me questions etc.  I replied, and we exchanged some emails.  I sent her a friend request.  When I went onto my messages, I can no longer access her name.  On all  my emails, going back 4 years,  the senders name is underlined in blue so their profile can be accessed.  These emails do not allow the sender to be accessed.  I did a search using her member name, and it said no matches were found.  It makes me feel a little weird.  I now wonder if they were legitimate emails and member as well.  This has happened on more than one occasion.  I always freely respond to any email I receive. 

 Hmm.. It does sound strange, especially if you've been emailing back and forth.  That could mean her profile is "hidden"?  I'm not that versed on OH search, but know I've looked for people before without any matches.  

Did she mark her profile as "private".  That may cause this.  Maybe she deactivated it?  

Maybe she did.  Her name was previously underlined, but it was not today.  Usually if a member is private their name at least comes up...I think?   Thanks

If it's private, it won't show up and it's not underlined. If deactivated, yo9u will see the "deactivated member" instead of their name so she is still a member...she just is hiding her profile.

You can STILL contact a member who is private, find one of their posts, and underneath should be a "contact" button...use it.

Liz

Thank you...that makes sense.  When I'm on Facebook I never befriend someone unless I know them, are part of a group I'm associated with or they are a friend of a friend.  Here on OH I do not follow those rules.