ModelMayhemReviews 148

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.

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,

After opening a photographer profile on the ModelMayhem site last year, I read several reviews here on on sitejabber that made me think I had made a mistake. Well, guess what? I did.

During several months of being on MM, I kept a low profile and took care not to violate any site rules. I did read the discussion boards and noted a strong undercurrent of user resentment concerning vague image rules, inconsistent enforcement and arbitrary removals from the site. (Removal is like an execution - you can never return.)

I did not participate in a discussion of these matters publicly, because I had noticed that members who had made critical remarks seemed to strangely disappear shortly after doing so. Sort of like the way Russians who criticize Putin always seem to turn up dead.

I did, however send some private messages to a few users warning them to beware of openly posting criticism. I was sh*tcanned within hours of sending these *private* messages.

Others have documented how the MM thought police maintain a database with user's ISP and camera serial number info. What my experience shows is that they also break into private messages in their zeal to purge all dissidents.

No one should go anywhere near this site.

I had been a member for over TEN years, with over a thousand friends on my page. But when I asked a model if she would be interested in "explicit" work, my account was shut down. When I asked why, they said that the word "explicit" meant "adult networking", which is supposedly against their rules. I replied that I didn't even know what "adult networking" is, and also explained that they advertise an "erotic" category on their site. Their entire reply was "asking about explicit work goes well beyond erotic", as if there's an established comparison between the words erotic and explicit. They then had me show them what 'explicit' photos were, playing dumb with me that their site contains thousands of explicit photos, perhaps to wear me down. Then I explained that NOTHING was done by these obsessive word maniacs when I complained about my friend being told her work there is "jerkoff material", nor when I was sexually assaulted by a HIV positive member of their site. Not important they said, since I used the word "explicit" instead of "erotic", my account needs to be terminated. These people are beyond f'ed up.

We have been working with professional models since the mid 1990s and can tell you without a doubt modelmayhem.com is a joke. After a disturbing conversation with the owner of the website about 10 years ago I've monitored much feedback from over 100 models who joined. All of them have horror stories. modelmayhem.com allows everyone to pose as an agent or photographer this is dangerous, this is how people have gotten raped and killed on websites that allow ANYONE to create anonymous seemingly "professional" identities. I strongly suggest models use local agents they can meet with over million identity (mostly fake?) websites like modelmayhem.com and onemodelplace.com

I have to agree with one of the earlier comments where someone stated the administrators have NO contact with you UNTIL in "their opinion" you have crossed the guidelines of posting images which are either 18+ or not. Although, they have written guidelines, they are subjective on which images they deem as 18+.

I have viewed pictures in their "contest" category which I thought should be 18+ but it wasn't called out as such. And when I re-created a similar image mine was flagged for not being in the 18+ category. And vice versa for 18+ images, when I have added my images in this category it is flagged with an e-mail stating it shouldn't be there. And then I have the conversation with myself asking, "didn't i just see a similar concept in this category a few days ago?" Then all of a sudden you received a 90 day suspension for not following the rules OR you could be removed permanently.

They should have general contest entries and THEY decide if the images are deemed 18+ and enter them as such. It's so frustrating. At this point, I think I am going to close my account because I have been suspended AGAIN for 90 days from entering into the "contest" and I informed them I did not think it was fair because I followed their "reasons" in what category the image should be entered. So, they'll probably close my acccount anyway because I spoke out.

Bye, MM!

From everything I can see, the principal activity of the administrators of this site is not promoting modeling or photography, it's finding pretexts to remove users.

There has been a lot of unhappiness about the site's use of vague rules on image content. Users are made to guess what images are acceptable; if they get it wrong, they are permanently removed. The administrators never communicate with the user before doing this.

I joined recently, in part to see if things were as bad as suggested by some of the other reviews of MM on this site. It's actually worse.

I didn't post any images that could have violated any rules, and none of my images were removed. What I did was to post a comment in a thread ("Confused by 18+ Image Rejection") in the "Site Related Forum".

I argued MM should either have clear rules or stop removing people for "violating" rules written so vaguely that people have to guess as to their meaning. The post was written using respectful, diplomatic language.

I knew I was taking a risk by speaking. Three other users who had posted critical comments in this thread had mysteriously disappeared. Sure enough, within 24 hours of posting, I got the email of death informing I was removed from the site. At least I had not paid them any money.

These people have as much respect for their user community as Saddam Hussein or Bashar Al Assad, The site really needs to be taken down.

I'm a photographer and have been with Model Mayhem since 2006. It's a great site for finding models, photographers, makeup artists, retouchers, etc. because you can search by city, state, country, etc. Especially good if you're a traveling model or photographer. Here really is no other model/photo site that comes close in scale. And it's possible to check who else someone has worked with which helps models separate the legit photographers from the creepy "GWCs" (Guy With Camera) who just want to see women nekkid. There are a lot of creeps on MM and models need to be selective, and careful who they work with.

That's the good part. What really SUCKS about Model Mayhem are the Moderators who are supposed to maintain order and resolve problems. There are some good ones but there are more than a few moderators who are rude, petty, arbitrary and downright abusive. There are rules for photo content and behavior, most of which make sense. But the moderators can be very subjective about interpreting the rules and, as others have pointed out in this forum, can "close" your account without warning or recourse--even if you have paid for a premium membership.

So, like most things in life, Model Mayhem is a mixed blessing.

Bruce

Stay away from this site. It is run by a couple of Nazis that will remove you from the site and take your money. I had posted on my site 4 images that were similar to hundreds of other images on the site. I was told the images were not appropriate for posting (they were posted in a "private" album) and was told to remove them. I attempted to discuss the situation with the moderators and was promptly removed from the site. No refund of my $100 annual membership which had 8 months to go. Not only will they take your money but will not remove your images from their site. If you know what is good for you - stay away.

You get what you pay for, if you want to be noticed then you need to make it happen. Joining a site and putting in a free page in the midst of 100,000 others, it isn't realistic that you will get noticed. Model Mayhem offers lots of good advice for free and provides a place for new and experienced models to grow their careers. As a photographer I found that page to be very helpful and exceptional in what they do. I have been reading a ton of the previous reviews from people that clearly want everything for free and expect instant results. That isn't realistic and will never happen especially in modeling. You need to get out there, buy the premium packages, join more than one site. Get your portfolio to as many agencies as possible. Do several shoots, spend money get a different job so you can afford to keep yourself going while you are modeling. If you don't have the body type or the looks, don't expect someone to give you a shot it isn't gonna happen. Be realistic find someone that will look out for your best interests an agent that is more there for you then for them. Look out for scams, there is no free ride in modeling. Let me say that again NO FREE RIDE IN MODELING and anyone that tells you, you will make it to the top without putting effort in is a hack, get rid of them and hire someone that will work with you.

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.

Here's the latest outrage perpetrated by the Model Mayhem Nazi brownshirts:
I was scheduled to participate in a photo workshop in southern California with 4 other models In October. For models, this can mean up to a grand in bookings for a day's work.
The event organizer (foolishly) relied on the ModelMayhem event/meetup forum to publicize the event. A few days after the event posting went up, it abruptly vanished.
Seems the brownshirts kicked the organizer off the site for no reason except that they could., I am quite sure he did not violate any of the site's rules, and quite sure the brownshirts did not give him an opportunity to change anything they found objectionable.
So yet again, the MM Nazis kill off another user and in the process cheat 5 models out of significant income.
I wish the same fate to all of them!

I used Model Mayhem for approximately 3 years. I had quite a bit of success arranging shoots during the first 2 years of my use of the service. Over time, less actual models joined the site, instead I would see more selfies, and "instagram models" that just wanted to pay their rent and had profiles saying the bring an entourage of their mom/boyfriend/best friends/ect to ever shoot. The professionalism went down the tubes in a big way.

During the last year, I stopped relying on MM as much as I had in the past for finding talent as I now have a large network of models, makeup artists, and friend in the industry that I can call on when ever. One day however, I decided to post a casting call for a project I was shooting in the near future, and it of course wouldn't hurt to attract as many options as possible. A few days later I received an email informing me that my account had been closed. Permanently.

No reason given as to why, no warnings, ect. 3 years using the service, and luckily never paying for it, and one day everything is just gone. Kind of a bummer, and it upset me, but they have the right to do as they please... it is their site. What upsets me greatly though, is that my data is STILL everywhere on the site. Images show up, my profile is still accessible (but not to me). I still get messages, but can't reply. My posts on the forum are still there in their entirety with my photos display next to my name.

I attempted to do the only thing that you can, "contact a mod." They don't even write out moderator. I emailed the "mod" a very professional, simple, but detailed message inquiring as to why my account was permanently closed, and if there was no possibility of reversing the closure, that I would like to have my data removed from the site. The response, verbatim, was "We close accounts as we see fit. Network elsewhere." Who runs this site? Angst filled teenagers? My advice is to stay away from this unprofessional site, and most definitely NEVER pay for the service... that's for total suckers.

Model Mayhem is a site that doesn't work half of the time, now filled with rent-queens, selfie models and perverts trying to lure girls into their apartments for porn, run by people that hate life, and a company that steals your data.