Piombino Imaging wrote:
I can't help but notice the search results for models at Model Mayhem have been dropping drastically over the last 3 to 4 years. For various search criteria in which I would get some 50 to 100 results in 2017, I will now get only 5 to 10.  I have heard from some models that they do not use Model Mayhem as much anymore...

There's no reason for models to use MM anymore.  They simply make a profile and post their other social media links where they can display as many other photos that they want to display and can send/recieve messages without going through the hoops of becoming 'friends' first or paying to have an upgraded account.

The other day someone on the forums brought up the point that many (if not most) of the models are simply using their profiles to get paying subscribers to their OF or other accounts including many porno sites that are banned from MM (such as Many Ciips or various Cam sites)  While it may or may not be displayed on their MM profile, it only takes a click or two on a link that they display to find 'em.

I've had better luck with a closed loop site that doesn't allow such links and only permits messaging via their own site, which is ironic because it's a British site with only a handful of Americans listed on it.  That's pretty sad if ya ask me.

Most of the brand new models on MM seem to make a profile and disappear for weeks or months at a time... that is if they ever re-appear at all.  Either they're getting driven off MM by weirdos, or they're more interested in getting people over to their porn sites as noted above.

Bob Helm Photography wrote:
Sadly it is true and unfortunate. Yes there are more options than there was back in the day when you had MM and OMP and people tend to follow the crowd and all the platforms have their strengths and weaknesses and are best used together.
To some extent MM has contributed to the problem with changes they made to make it less usable, like limiting who you can message to only friends for some membership levels.
I use them all together, If I find a model on IG I search MM, if I find them on MM I look for them on IG as MM gives me information as to who , what, when and where while IG gives me more recent photos and a lot more but edited to "Community Standards"
It takes just a minute to log in check messages and let the MM community know you are alive and well. It also pushes you up on the MM search
In many respects MM is its own worst enemy as the ownership seems uninterested in keeping it modern and contemporary

You've mentioned a couple of the problems.  I'd say that the attempt at creating an app was a loss for this website too.  There are many posts about that very issue floating around.

Cwen  wrote:
I've been poking and prodding at MM for the past couple months, and I've booked one shoot through it. I haven't shot a straight-up art nude (my speciality) in over a year. Thankfully my main job is keeping me afloat, but it has me wondering recently if I'm un"suitable," as someone commented above, or if this is just not the place for art modeling anymore. I have gotten a lot of very uncomfortable fetish requests, though. Figured I'd throw my $0.02 so it's not just photographers.

I looked over you very large portfolio and in my opinion you are certainly suitable - more so. I can't understand the you are not getting offers as you clearly know what you are doing and are lovely to behold. I don't know what your rates are, so I can't say that is a reason for not getting work.  Unless you are an axe murderer or burn down studios, I cn't understand your lack of work.  Perhaps your area is saturated with beautiful models ( I don't think such a place exists) or the photographers are only shooting weddings. Don't give up!  The only thing I would suggest is editing your portfolio down to 20 or so pictures. The volume of wonderful pictures is overwhelming.

A. K. Southard wrote:
There are plenty of models here--must be your search radius. MM searches through 1,072,232 active members.*



*That number has remained static since about 2015.

Piombino Imaging the photographer who is the OP for this post is a friend of mine.  He works in the cyber industry testing websites.  I have spoken with him about this website a number of times.  You are correct that the number that shows up as "active users" has been static for a long time.  The number of "active members" is not the same as the number of models.  Approximately three quarters of that number are photographers, leaving one quarter of that total to be models, and a small number other artists. Considering that this is a World wide website, those numbers are small.  I would venture to say that it was much higher before Tyler sold it.

At it's prime, it seemed we used to be able to find models all over the World on this website.  A large number of models and photographers have left, while many of those "active" are not actually logging on as often or consistently as they used to. I'm a legacy member, and I even took at least couple years off between logging in.  That's unheard of for me back in the 2005 through 2012 or so .. I used to post multiple times a day, send messages to many and booked models from here.  I've weeded those models I follow here from over 2,000 to around 700 simply from by seeing who has not logged on in years. The number of active users has gone down in search. That is a fact!