Randy Dixon wrote:
It's $6/month to upgrade and not have to worry about the friend request. The time it takes to send 20 friend requests and wait for the reply should make it well worth that.

If you buy a paid membership you can send PMs without going through the friend-request dance. But you still can't receive PMs from basic members without first going through that dance.

Since many paid members found it desirable that basic members could contact them, the change made Model Mayhem less useful to those paid members. This was a misstep, and one of the reasons for Model Mayhem's decline.

Deadra Daye wrote:
Maybe it’s just me, but I swear back in like 2012-2016 I feel like the site was more busy. I have been offline for about a year or two, so I know part of what I’m seeing is from that. I haven’t been on consistently since you were only able to upload 15 photos without upgrading.

But even on forums, the shout box....people seem to be less active. Could it be instagram?

I know some people say becoming VIP gets you more exposure. I was VIP once and I guess I agree. But at the same time I feel like wether you’re VIP or not, you can run into gems on MM either way, it’s all about the search...and the universe

Thoughts?

I think it's been dead for a long time now. I've been using it since 2008 shortly after it first began.. back then i was a model & now i've moved on to being a photographer. i made the switch around 2012-2013 when it was peaking and since then i've seen it become more and more of a grave yard. lots of creeps, lots of GWCs and now, after a year of doing my masters degree in fashion photography i've just come back on to have a look around who's on and found i can no-longer message anyone without some sort of weird friend request thing.
there was a mass exodus of modelmayhem and i feel they've tried to get people back by limiting the creeps' and GWCs access to models but have simultaneously shot themselves in the foot. I've got no shortage of models anymore but modelmayhem helped me immensely when i was starting out. If these rules had been around then MM would have met the same fate as so many others (purestorm, one model place etc etc there's probably 10 of them).
Had I started with the new rules, i never would have gotten anywhere & tbh, i don't have the time of day to friend reqest every potential model before asking if they'd like to work together.
I've been a VIP / premium from many years and i cancelled it in the late part of the exodus (late 2016- early 2017) and after all these years, there's no grandfather account as people talk about. Aside from that, most of the profiles here are now heritage profiles. IG has taken over unfortunately. I do love IG but MM had so much going for it if they had just been a little smarter. 🤷‍♂️ maybe they'll make some changes that actually help but at this stage and after the seeing almost the entire life of the site, i feel they're more likely to die out completely now that they've adopted something like the OMP (one model place) system that everyone flocked from there to here to avoid.

Sablesword wrote:

If you buy a paid membership you can send PMs without going through the friend-request dance. But you still can't receive PMs from basic members without first going through that dance.

Since many paid members found it desirable that basic members could contact them, the change made Model Mayhem less useful to those paid members. This was a misstep, and one of the reasons for Model Mayhem's decline.

I didn't realize that but I was really responding to the Lonely Photographer's complaint that the sent out 20 friend requests without a single reply.

Luminos wrote:
Well, I've been off doing other things for the last five years.   I just popped in today after getting reamed by a model who was angry I hadn't been responding to her mails offering her fees for a shoot.

MM mods annoyed a lot of folks back a few years ago, and paid memberships dropped off as a result.   To try to increase the number of paid memberships, it looks like MM has been restricting privileges, which simply sent them elsewhere.

It's a classic problem of the beatings will continue until moral improves.

That and the thugs that gang up on certain posters  At least they have something to look forward to. Been gone for almost a year, came back found this place to be like a ghetto neighborhood with driveby attacks, i guess it makes them feel like part of street gang. I'm finding this site to be less than useful,  at least the type of shoots I do...

Eleven 11 Photography wrote:
Its not what it was thats for sure. I was VIP but I've downgraded to free because I don't see the point really.

As was I...
I'm hosting occasional events in my studio in SGV, guys get a chance to shoot models, learn how their cameras work,  try out different lighting... sometimes a photographer wants to try out an idea... so everybody helps set up the shoot.   sometimes it works  and f it dont    we find a way to make it work... unlike here nothing works...everybody gets in line to bad mouth and trash talk...

the lonely photographer wrote:

As was I...
I'm hosting occasional events in my studio in SGV, guys get a chance to shoot models, learn how their cameras work,  try out different lighting... sometimes a photographer wants to try out an idea... so everybody helps set up the shoot.   sometimes it works  and f it dont    we find a way to make it work... unlike here nothing works...everybody gets in line to bad mouth and trash talk...

I think if you are in a major metropolitan area AND your work is good MM works for you as a photographer. I think it's probably still working for models almost everywhere.

For me I used MM to fill creative itches. Work out artistic wonderings. It was good for that. And I had plenty of models to chose from with my professional work. But I also lived in DC.

Now that I live in Alabama it's a lot harder to find creative partners.

Eleven 11 Photography wrote:

I think if you are in a major metropolitan area AND your work is good MM works for you as a photographer. I think it's probably still working for models almost everywhere.

For me I used MM to fill creative itches. Work out artistic wonderings. It was good for that. And I had plenty of models to chose from with my professional work. But I also lived in DC.

Now that I live in Alabama it's a lot harder to find creative partners.

I would think if you establish yourself people would stand in line to work with you...if its hard for you  then it would be hard for everybody... I think you can do it..

Eric212Grapher wrote:
You cannot judge MM success or failure on the Forums.

I agree with what you're saying but what yo see in them is indicative of the culture here.  Trolls looking for an argument regardless of the situation are one reason most people don't use the forums at all.  I've heard it from current and former members more times than I can count.  You could say the forums are a slice of the demographics here and that's not looking too good anymore.

Eric212Grapher wrote:
You cannot judge MM success or failure on the Forums. The idea of communicating via a Bulletin Board System is ancient to the younger generation. I know plenty of photographers and models who are on MM, yet have no clue to the Forum pages. They simply have never gone looking here.

There are other features to MM that many never realize or use. The Bulletins is a prime example. Few members use that feature. Most members do not even know it exists.

I have shot with over a hundred MM Models

Only one had any interest in the forums

Most Young Women have better things to do with their time

like Instagramming ....lol

Deadra Daye wrote:
MM is kinda dead?

Thoughts?

Alive and kicking,  apart from the Forums bit with the whiners and complainers keeping those going. 

It's all a matter of perspective.

Robb Mann wrote:
MM is not dead yet. In fact, it feels happy.

I laughed out loud.

Hunter  GWPB wrote:
Of course, just because an imaginary (for the purpose of this post, as to not offend the easily offended) biased member of MM goes out and has conversations with other members or former members, does not make his conclusions a fact. (HIs many conversations represent what percentage of the current and former membership of MM, over what geographic area, using what unbiased survey questions created by whom, and what is the statistical margin of error of his non-scientific and self serving conclusions?)  Since his posts tend to be condescending and arrogant ....

Funnily enough, this post of YOURS sounds incredibly condescending and arrogant.

Hunter  GWPB wrote:
Of course, just because an imaginary (for the purpose of this post, as to not offend the easily offended) biased member of MM goes out and has conversations with other members or former members, does not make his conclusions a fact. (HIs many conversations represent what percentage of the current and former membership of MM, over what geographic area, using what unbiased survey questions created by whom, and what is the statistical margin of error of his non-scientific and self serving conclusions?)  Since his posts tend to be condescending and arrogant and unaccepting and abusive of other people's opinions or methods, can the one member, who consistently rails against the usefulness of the forums in which he continues to participate; who is also a person that has had numerous run ins with other members and had walked away butt hurt many times after being called out for his callous treatment of others, have a valid outlook or conclusions?  He hardly paints the forums in a positive light when he posts his negative and critical comments about the forums and other members at every opportunity, to remind us about how he has been wronged, despite the fact that he usually starts or exacerbates the negative spiral. God forbid anyone should disagree with him, much less pose an opinion contrary to his, as that is an invitation to experience his dismay and wrath.

Certainly, we all have our opinions of who is a nice a guy and who is not and the opinions are shaped by our own experiences- which by nature makes us biased.  However, a member with just a few hundred posts is unlikely to have much experience with the forums in former days, when they were well attended, very active, with virtually no limits on the topics that were eligible to be discussed as opposed to the very limited acceptable topics now, and when the forums were substantially more adversarial then they are now.  It is difficult to compare the days of soapbox to now and come to the conclusion that a handful of people in the forums, out of the handful of people that use the forums, are the cause of the decline of MM.  It is not an argument of fact, it is an absurd adolescent conclusion which is self serving and egotistical and ignores all of the many factors that have contributed to the change in the MM forums, which in itself is a minor portion of the site, where as the forums may or may not reflect other aspects of the site in it's entirety, without an analysts of all the factors that have contributed and are external and irrelevant to the forums, which can hardly can be extrapolated to the functioning or popularity of the entire site. 

The forums have nothing to do with the impact that Facebook and instagram have had on MM.  The forums have nothing to do with beginner models wanting big bucks to shoot or their insistence on their own terms.  The forums are relative to the inactivity of some members as they have been banned from the forums or banned from the site for behavior in the forums, or they endure a self imposed exile because of the change in the forums, the messaging system, the female model's only forum, the spamming by retouchers, the difficulty of the site's operations on smart phones, or reason that would be ridiculous to try to enumerate here- no, none of those matter- just the behavior of a handful of people in a little used section of the entire site, is the cause of the decline in MM and such a conclusion is not based on quantifiable criteria, as I doubt that IB has shared data with the detractor concerning hits, sign ups, advertising revenue, paid memberships or many other criteria which management utilizes to determine the relative success and growth and profitability of the site.  Phftt.  An observer that was here in the soapbox days, could hardly come to the conclusion that the little bit of animosity and rivalry that occurs here now, would have a negative influence in comparison to the mayhem that the forums exhibited in years past.  No, these constant complaints against the outspoken, and often logical participating forum contributors, is not indicative of anything except the childish nature of one contributor and his inability to separate discussions from personalities or to treat different discussions as different discussions.

Ahhh, I long for the days in which a well reasoned perspective was dismissed out of hand because someone used "there" instead of "their" in a single sentence.  Obviously such behavior was so much more civil than the forums today!

STANDING AND APPLAUDING!

Aaron Pawlak wrote:
Castings have dropped from an average closing in on 10,000,
to under 4,000.

That's actually the result of a technical change we made as part of the member tier changes. Casting now expire whereas in the past the remained live indefinitely.

Model Mayhem Edu wrote:
That's actually the result of a technical change we made as part of the member tier changes. Casting now expire whereas in the past the remained live indefinitely.

Ok.
I still use the site, but I think if old unused profiles were removed, the site would shrink faster than it would grow.

Aaron Pawlak wrote:
Castings have dropped from an average closing in on 10,000,
to under 4,000.

I'm just not seeing too many new models on here either...

Agreed. But i think we need to filter down a little more... I have noticed a definite decrease in models in my area that sign up on MM to shoot lingerie type of photos. I am guessing those types of models are more trending toward IG.  But also the overall number of signups (IN MY AREA ) are down.  I check for new models in my area just about everyday using the browse function. In MM hay day of lets say around 2005 or so. That listing would be over 10+ everyday. Now..... NOW It goes 2-3 new models every couple weeks MAYBE!.

#Facts!

Shades Of Brown wrote:
trending toward IG.

I don't even know how to message someone on IG. I refuse to use internet on a smartphone.
I'm stuck in 1999, as far as that goes

Shades Of Brown wrote:

Aaron Pawlak wrote:
In MM hay day of lets say around 2005 or so. That listing would be over 10+ everyday. Now..... NOW It goes 2-3 new models every couple weeks MAYBE!.

#Facts!

Within 100 miles of Durham, MM adds about 1 female model per month. Down from 380-ish to 200-ish and most, as always, are inactive. I think it's just people aren't modeling anymore -- surprising, considering how crappy the economy is right now.

Instagram is utterly pointless --models can't even put up pictures without censoring them. Zuckerman can't figure out how to throw Nazis off Facebook, but seems terrified of nipples on Instagram. Just because he's rich doesn't mean he comes equipped with a brain.

PhotoACR wrote:
I still do not see an alternative to MM for photographers to cast models outside of agencies. While I have accounts in IG and FB the purposes of those apps are still geared toward social interaction and are not industry-centric.  As a photographer I value MM as a resource on personal projects to cast models like no other site. Where else I get information on model's stats, comfort level, location, availability and have multiple photos of them at a glance.

IG is for showing off. It is a competition for likes. For a model your audience here are not the photographers but fans.
FB is a community interaction forum but is also limited to the scope on who is on a group and not far reaching.

I am not a big fan of MM but for now it has to do.

I would agree, but then again, most of those online are not "models", but those looking for feedback on what they've done and what they can do better. While I'm not sure feedback is really in "likes" and "comments" from those who wouldn't know a good picture from a bad is a bench mark, it's what they are trending towards.

For me as a photographer, I appreciate feedback from those who know. Have knowledge. The randoms? eh, I don't care so much what they think. I see IG becoming alot more spammy. Alot of fake accounts. I've tried connecting with designers through their IG and never hear even a peep.

Social media as a whole is still a crap shoot. Good and bad everywhere. The only mistake mm made was it's resisting the need to intergrate with the rest of social media. They screwed the pooch on that decision, regardless of who/whom made that call, I bet they'd like to have it back.

If you could tweek the casting and mix in pieces of the rest of social media. Take the best of IG, Facebook and the casting of mm, then you'd have a good start. Alas, none of it matters without a database of good reliable members to make it all work. Until then, we'll hang around waiting for it to happen.

"here's my 10¢, my 2¢ is free" Eminem

TEB-Art Photo wrote:
Within 100 miles of Durham, MM adds about 1 female model per month. Down from 380-ish to 200-ish and most, as always, are inactive. I think it's just people aren't modeling anymore -- surprising, considering how crappy the economy is right now.

Instagram is utterly pointless --models can't even put up pictures without censoring them. Zuckerman can't figure out how to throw Nazis off Facebook, but seems terrified of nipples on Instagram. Just because he's rich doesn't mean he comes equipped with a brain.

You've quoted people incorrectly. (I know the HTML is weird).

I would not want to be within 100 miles of Durham NC, and
models are easy to find on MM in my area, I'm just not seeing new models too much on here,
unless traveling from elsewhere.

Zuck(erburg) wants nazis on facebook, and if there were nipples on FB or IG, those would turn in to an adult friend finder site.

Shades Of Brown wrote:
MM needs an APP if they want to attract "NEW" models, which is the life blood of the industry...  Period. End of story.

Totally agree!

Jonathan Friedman wrote:
I don't know another forum that shows nudes. Instagram and FB don't allow them so for me MM has the widest distribution that I know of.

500px, tumblr, deviant art, even flickr to some degree.

By the way, I think Instagram is so retarded. You can only do its full features when you are on mobile devices, using their apps. Apps are the biggest virus and spy wares.

Aaron Pawlak wrote:

I don't even know how to message someone on IG. I refuse to use internet on a smartphone.
I'm stuck in 1999, as far as that goes

Same here..
Reason:We aren’t Blind drones driven by the Cult of Consumerism
Any logical objective user can see Mobile devices are vastly inferior to computers for net use