Camera Buff wrote:
Members have the choice to opt-out of Lists. Will members who don’t want Model Mayhem to take the liberty of posting their pictures in a Picture of the Week Thread be given the choice to opt-out?

Absolutely. What we will be doing is contacting each user that has a photo selected that we want to highlight and ask them if they are okay with that.

Mod 7 (Cust. Svc.) wrote:

Absolutely. What we will be doing is contacting each user that has a photo selected that we want to highlight and ask them if they are okay with that.

Sounds pretty cool. Going back to basics to drive engagement.

Model MoRina wrote:
Worth a try. I would hope that you would post a lot of images so that people feel like they have a good chance of being featured. Otherwise you will probably get too many people crying that they aren't picked.

We were thinking of showcasing around 10 images each week. Do you think that's not enough?

Mod 7 (Cust. Svc.) wrote:
We were thinking of showcasing around 10 images each week. Do you think that's not enough?

Not really. That makes it feel like a picture of the day contest. I have no idea how many new images get uploaded each day but 10 images a week doesn't seem worth doing.
Most everyone now is trained to scroll through our feeds on social media. A feed of 10 images a week isn't something I would make a point to look at. That's just me.

Mod 7 (Cust. Svc.) wrote:
We are planning to start displaying a few of the recent uploads in a thread, just to spotlight some images
that caught our eye. We would like to get some feedback from the community.

It's not a contest; we're just sharing a few great photos each week.

Does anyone have any thoughts or input?

You can claim it is not a contest, but it is.

People submit images  (by uploading new/recycled images to their portfolios).
Mod/admin/whoever judges these images to decide which ones to highlight.
MM publishes the 'winners' for all to see, if they make enough clicks.
Those whose images were selected feel honored, and those whose images were bypassed feel dissed.

"A rose by another other name..." Bill Shakespeare
"If you call a dog's tail a leg, how many tails does a dog have? one. Saying it is not tail does not mean it is not a tail." Twisting Abe's quote.

This ought to be an opt-in process, not an opt-out. Also, what if the model opts-in, yet the photographer opts-out?

Eric212Grapher wrote:
You can claim it is not a contest, but it is.

I believe the concept of the discontinued contests had more credibility than what I see as being a dumbed down alternative. I realise that the numbers of contestants and voters probably diminished and contestants recycled old images.

However members decided if they wished to participate in the various categories (eg general audience vs mature audience only) then their fellow members and/or friends voted to choose the winners. whose winning pictures were then posted in a special ‘winners ‘ thread/list.

Now you are suggesting that some unknown person(s) from MM can choose the ‘entries’ from daily uploads and then they alone get to choose which images they believe deserve to be posted in a special thread/list.

As I see it the reasoning as to why it is not a competition is that MM chooses which images qualify for entry, in that only new postings (not necessarily new work) are eligible.

My favourite MM pastime is to BROWSE by ALL ARTIST TYPES and by ALL COUNTRIES and by Artists who have LOGGED IN WITHIN (1) ONE DAY and to be able to find and revisit my favourite Artists I will add them to my own List.

So I don’t see any great advantage in my viewing what someone at MM chooses to include in a proposed Pic of the Day Thread.

Eric212Grapher wrote:
You can claim it is not a contest, but it is.

Camera Buff wrote:
I believe the concept of the discontinued contests had more credibility than what I see as being a dumbed down alternative....

The major difference between the contests and this approach appears to be that the mod chooses the "winners" instead of the members via voting.

Didn't MM, at some point, post some of winning photos on their social media account?  Is that something they're thinking of doing again?   Only with more "control" over which images are selected...

JQuest wrote:
I did a quick “Select All Countries” search limited to the last year and saw that 59,886 photographers show up using that criteria. Doing the same search with models instead of photographers results in 24,932.

So as not to cut the photographers out completely I would add a requirement that the images selected need to have been taken by photographers that are members of the site and credited as such in the model’s portfolio.

While I agree (in part) with the premise of your suggestion, it completely overlooks members in all countries who are Makeup Artists, Hair Stylists, Wardrobes, Retouchers, Artist/Painters, Publications, Casting Directors, Event Planners, Advertisers, Filmmakers, Body Painters, Clothing Designers, Approved Agencies, Digital Artists.

Perhaps MM could run a completely separate Photo of the Week for Models only,

Also some models join MM where there are no photographers who are members of MM (and vice versa) so why impose requirements that would exclude their participation?

LightDreams wrote:
Didn't MM, at some point, post some of winning photos on their social media account?  Is that something they're thinking of doing again?   Only with more "control" over which images are selected...

No, these images will not be shared on any of our social media channels.

Eric212Grapher wrote:
You can claim it is not a contest, but it is.

People submit images  (by uploading new/recycled images to their portfolios).
Mod/admin/whoever judges these images to decide which ones to highlight.
MM publishes the 'winners' for all to see, if they make enough clicks.
Those whose images were selected feel honored, and those whose images were bypassed feel dissed.

"A rose by another other name..." Bill Shakespeare
"If you call a dog's tail a leg, how many tails does a dog have? one. Saying it is not tail does not mean it is not a tail." Twisting Abe's quote.

This ought to be an opt-in process, not an opt-out. Also, what if the model opts-in, yet the photographer opts-out?

Thank you for your input.
If a model uploads an image that is highlighted and the photographer "opts-out", we would take it down.

Camera Buff wrote:
I believe the concept of the discontinued contests had more credibility than what I see as being a dumbed down alternative. I realise that the numbers of contestants and voters probably diminished and contestants recycled old images.

However members decided if they wished to participate in the various categories (eg general audience vs mature audience only) then their fellow members and/or friends voted to choose the winners. whose winning pictures were then posted in a special ‘winners ‘ thread/list.

Now you are suggesting that some unknown person(s) from MM can choose the ‘entries’ from daily uploads and then they alone get to choose which images they believe deserve to be posted in a special thread/list.

As I see it the reasoning as to why it is not a competition is that MM chooses which images qualify for entry, in that only new postings (not necessarily new work) are eligible.

My favourite MM pastime is to BROWSE by ALL ARTIST TYPES and by ALL COUNTRIES and by Artists who have LOGGED IN WITHIN (1) ONE DAY and to be able to find and revisit my favourite Artists I will add them to my own List.

So I don’t see any great advantage in my viewing what someone at MM chooses to include in a proposed Pic of the Day Thread.

Thank you for your input.
I like your favorite pastime, that's a good idea and there are likely others that also do that. And it's perfectly fine if you don't wish to view the highlighted photos each week.

JQuest wrote:
It certainly couldn’t hurt, however, I would limit the selection/display of recent images to those posted by models and linked back to their portfolios.

I did a quick “Select All Countries” search limited to the last year and saw that 59,886 photographers show up using that criteria. Doing the same search with models instead of photographers results in 24,932.

Showcasing images posted by models makes more sense to me simply because it’s called “Model Mayhem” not “Photographer Mayhem”and the modeling community is the one that has most precipitously declined on this site over the past few years.

So as not to cut the photographers out completely I would add a requirement that the images selected need to have been taken by photographers that are members of the site and credited as such in the model’s portfolio.

Interesting idea for sure, but it would severely limit our options for photos to highlight. Photographers tend to upload images
far more than models do. And that would also leave out MUA's and Stylists and others.
Thanks for the input.

Camera Buff wrote:
Any pictures that MM decides to post in their ‘Photo of the Week’ feature that brings to our attention the excellent works of Artists whose work may have otherwise gone unnoticed, will make MM’s new feature a worthwhile endeavour.

Let’s not suggest unnecessary requirements and leave it to MM’s discretion as to what members and which pictures they decide to select, after all the success or not of this new endeavour will ultimately depend on what they decide to post.

LightDreams wrote:
Thank-you "Mod 7" for the additional clarifications.   It sounds like a good idea to me!

And, we thank you!

Eric212Grapher wrote:
It seems to be out of place in the General Industry forum. Also, that forum is more active, making it a 'buried' thread quickly.

I would think a new Forum, like "Highlights of the Week" would garner more attention, especially if that forum only allowed mods to start new threads, but allowed members to post replies. Certainly would be an easier access to past weekly posts.

Unfortunately, we have to do this without the help of coding, so making a new forum isn't going to happen. Is there a current forum where they would be better placed?

Eric212Grapher wrote:
It seems to be out of place in the General Industry forum. Also, that forum is more active, making it a 'buried' thread quickly.

I would think a new Forum, like "Highlights of the Week" would garner more attention, especially if that forum only allowed mods to start new threads, but allowed members to post replies. Certainly would be an easier access to past weekly posts.

Active? Threads from almost 6 months ago are still on the first page.

Camera Buff wrote:
I missed all the fanfare of launch day of MM’s new thread. And only found it quite by accident while skipping through past thread titles.

Then I was confused by the mix of ‘Pic of the Week’ pictures mixed in with all the Avatar pictures of members who posted Comments. Mostly thank you comments from those members whose excellent pictures had been selected.

Then I became confused by where I was supposed to post my comments. So I clicked on the link under each of the selected images but didn’t find a single comment had been posted. But I thought surely comments are meant and deserve to be posted under the pictures in the member’s Album and not at the end of each week in a currently obscure thread belonging to MM.

Yes. Posting comments on the photos themselves is encouraged for sure. But some discussion in the forums is also
welcome.