ModelMayhem

Others have written regarding the virtual police state that exists under the congenial surface of this photography website. It's even worse than the other reviewers imagine.

I created a profile on the site and began posting discussion threads concerning the site's internal practices. I took to task one of their so-called moderators who liked to brag of his powers to have people removed, and also liked to force models into positions where they would have to sleep with him.

As anticipated, that caused the focus to be on me, not the site's abusive practices. In the process, they revealed that they collect camera serial numbers for all images posted on the site and run the info against an "enemies list" database.If you post a picture taken with a camera used by someone they dislike, you're toast. And they seem to dislike a lot of people.

This is truly chilling. I agree with those who counsel staying away from ModelMayhem.com.

Join this site if you want to be grouped with a bunch of self-entitled D-Bags and the general anti-model kind of community. Photographers think they're better than everyone else. The shoots I've been in, always disrespectful. 'Models' with phone pictures get more attention than legitimate photos and 'photographers' berate you if you have any differing opinion. Also, if you've had a bad shoot and say something, it's YOUR fault because photographers do no wrong. I now have a horrible hatred for photographers and will NEVER waste my time on them again. Get a real job.

Ironically, I am writing this review now because the site is down and I was looking for info about the outage. There are not a lot of good sites out there for photographers to find and screen models. Yes, the site is archaic and buggy, and yes there are some creepy photographers and models on there, but overall I have found the site to be a convenient place for me to create a portfolio and recruit models. You just have to use your head when it comes to picking who you contact and work with. My biggest complaint is that I am at the maximum photo capacity for paid accounts and they will not offer any upgrade--seems like a missed business opportunity to me.

I've seen many negative reviews on this site, and frankly I have no idea what most of them are talking about. I'm a realist painter who has been a member for some time. I hired my first model through them in 2014, and have since hired four female models and 2 male models through this website. They were all great. Of course, this isn't a modeling agency, so you have to practice due diligence. Not everyone here is an experienced professional. Others are well-known glamour models There are doubtless some photographers who are creeps, and some models who have done porn (So? If that offends you, don't hire them!). The people I hired were all terrific professionals who did their job.

As with ANYTHING, buyer beware...

I've used the free level of Model Mayhem since 2011 as a model... it has served me well... the vast majority of people I've met and worked with through the site have been really cool people, just there for the business of art and modeling... sure, there are creeps... hello, a certain proportion of the entire human population are creeps... be honest and direct, set your boundaries and stick to them, say so when something bugs you, meet in person for coffee first before shooting, and if ANYTHING feels the least bit off, LEAVE... bring ID to prove your age, and if you're under 21, DO NOT GO ALONE! And, for f*cks sake, don't do anything to impair your ability to advocate for yourself! Myself, I choose not to drink during a shoot, and I choose not to engage in anything that restricts my physical movement, or my ability to speak, with anyone I haven't known for a really loooong time... exercise prudent caution!

Model Mayhem is not an agency, it is not a model management company, and they never claim to be... it is just a networking website... if someone presents themselves as representing Model Mayhem to book you for a gig, do not respond, they're a scam and spoofing them...

Used with candor and appropriate skepticism, this site is excellent!

I will update when I try out the paid levels...

I signed up for a profile and after about a week my account was closed. In that time I received 100+ messages from "photographers" wanting to do a TF nude shoot with me, when you look at their profiles though they only have crappy poor quality pics or unprofessional pics and in some cases porn. Yet my profile is banned. I asked why my profile was banned in the "ask a mod" section of their website. It took 6 days for them to reply to my message and their response was that I do not appear to be who I say I am. The mod bluntly told me that in order to prove who I am I must take a photo of myself holding a crumpled up piece of paper that says "Hi mods, this is me" These mods are far to arrogant and drunk on the power of banning models which apparently makes them men. I will not be doing as they ask as I feel the website is a joke, filled with perverted men just wanting to get you nude. Plus they spam your mailbox with total crap! Stay away!

They have a few people that have been given some power over membership and they have not concept of customer service. They will cut you off for something they think 'might' be an infraction on their rules just because of the words you use, not the actual meaning. WTH is that? Then they will cut you off, delete your contacts and mail messages. No questions ask.
My advise, stay away! Don't invest the time trying to build a network here.

WOW! What a crappy way to run a business.

If you are a new model, it is a good place to start out. I personally went there because I wanted to see if I could even book work before traipsing into the agencies acting all high and mighty. Now if you are looking for legitimate paid work head over to craigslist where there is a lot more "Adult" work but there are also serious paying gigs. If you want to practice and build your portfolio, I would recommend modelmayhem as a good place to start for sure maybe do some networking, but if you depend on it you'll never go anywhere.

Model Mayhem (MM) is ostensibly a site for emerging photographers and aspiring models.

It is run by a self-serving clique collectively called Mods (Moderators) which submits its members to arbitrary and capricious actions without justification.

These actions range from removing individual photographs from contests and portfolios to suspending members from the site for vague and unspecified reasons.

Furthermore MM makes no effort to police the fraud which is endemic to the site such as models stealing advances and photographers not meeting their financial commitments to models.

The sole reason MM survives is because there isn't an alternative at present. If and when a viable alternative emerges MM will die a quick death,

When Craig's List got knocked for letting purveyors of porn advertise and they had to take down the category, MM picked up the slack. Model prices quadrupled even for non-nude. MM models no longer need a portfolio to get work. Porn photographers will pay them for a test and try (usually successfully) to talk them out of their clothes. The price of artist's models went from $35/hr to $150 in three years or less. Now I can no longer message a model that isn't one of my "friends" with my free membership. Artists and photographers are employers. Models are employees. Why should I have to pay MM? What employment agency asks employers to pay up front to try to hire someone?