Reviewed on 2021-05-15T09:29:05
First of all I'm one of the many people they banned without an explanation or even a notice.I noted they point to their rules to justify such things when they reply. I think it's useful to compare them to other companies. Like the one you can use to log in here, Facebook.
Facebook gives you a time out if you break the rules. It's commonly called Facebook jail. Model Mayhem by comparison in effect justifies their actions by pointing to the user agreement. You know that text very few people ever read that is meant to protect and indemnify companies online. Facebook has one too. Sure they point to it when penalizing someone. However they don't automatically ban people for life because frankly it's not a smart way to do business. It results in the kind of reviews you see here.
Model Mayhem can be a useful site. Until the staff there gets involved. I'd assume they are not all bad but it only takes a few bad apples to ruin things for a lot of people. What I fell afoul of is the way they interpret the rules not the rules themselves. I can see kicking people who say take a work of art and misrepresent it as their own. However they stretch that scenario to situations where you are not misrepresenting anything. There's a quality problem on there. Bad quality images taken by "guys with cameras" so to speak. Dudes mostly interested in shooting nudes etc.
By comparison I used the service without incident since 2008. 13 years. I addressed questions I was getting because of the issue with unprofessional users. I contacted Nikon and was directed to their press section. I had images from them in a separate album from my actual work. I never represented it as my own and I crediting Nikon. I was an advertiser. Top paid level. I was there to hire people.
My advice for someone in my situation is try elsewhere at this point. The moderators are as bad as people are saying. There is no time out or warning system like on Facebook and other platforms. You can spend 13 years forming connections and networking only to have them ban you without notice or explanation. When they do give some sort of justification it's really not up to general standards employed by most other sites. They are not able to police their own site in a fair manner. It's going to keep costing them customers too I'd imagine.
I'm writing a couple months after it happened. I've moved to a different service provider. You see Model Mayhem does not treat you like a customer when you interact with them. They treat you like employee they can fire for cause. They take no responsibility and never acknowledge how they compare to other Internet Brands. Like the big names. That's where you find standards for company conduct. They can write whatever they like here but I'd suggest they stop blaming everything on users and start taking responsibility for past mistakes and arbitrary unfriendly decision making. It's not the rules that are the problem it's how they are being used.
Until they fix that issue and stop banning long time members without recourse I'd have say don't invest your time and money networking there. It happens to models too but they do seem to target photographers specifically.
For models I'd say if they won't let you bring an escort it's not worth it. Always bring someone. If they won't pay at least a living wage think twice unless you really like their work. Even first time models deserve a stipend of some sort to sign over rights to images of themselves. Always get it in writing how images will be used especially if it involves nudity. That's not in their rules to my knowledge. They don't use rules to protect people. Only to penalize and ban them on the first offence.
I've tried to give a pretty fair assessment. If say I had repeatedly broken the rules and then got kicked out that might be different. As it is there was a pretty understandable misunderstanding on my part. I took the rule in question to apply to people misrepresenting themselves to models. Not say using advertising photos from Nikon to accurately represent the equipment I deploy. I don't have a lot of time to be reading through a long list of rules all the time. If Model Mayhem was being realistic about it they would have an alternative to banning people and stop treating it like every situation is the same because they are not. This one size fits all approach is why they have universally bad ratings on these kinds of ratings sites I'd imagine.
I'm disappointed in them. Not angry I have other resources I can use. I'll just use an actual modeling agency but that precludes amateurs getting a chance to work with someone like me of course. That's what I looked for on MM. Real life people. No more though. They are a bad fit. Because of bad management.read more
Photographer and Model beware
Reviewed on 2021-02-21T23:14:30
Photographer and Model beware. Model Mayhem when they get any aledged complaint will close your account without explanation or opportunity to address the aledged complaint.If you are already on Model Mayhem go thru and back up all your contacts via cell numbers and email.read more
Awful quality resolution on your…
Reviewed on 2020-12-02T19:07:44
Awful quality resolution on your pictures and just a rip off, basically a waste of time.
Reviewed on 2020-11-22T02:35:45
Just looking at the responses from the moderators on the bad reviews you can tell it’s a horrible (but still #1 ) freelance modeling site. One person posted that they have horrible customer service, and verbal abuse from moderators ( especially moderator #7 Brandi ) and the response from MM had in it “ I’m sorry the customer service wasn’t up to your standards “. Umm.... That wasn’t an apology. That was a passive aggressive insult. I met a photographer that use to be a mod. They got some pretty crazy stuff happening behind the scenes.read more
My account got closed for no reason
Reviewed on 2020-10-30T19:07:32
I made an account a few days ago (spent a lot of time setting it up) only to log in today for it to be closed with no explanation!!What the hell is this? Hate this websiteread more
I have been on MM since 2012 and here goes my truth...
Reviewed on 2020-10-03T08:04:17
I have been on MM since 2011. I am a beautiful black woman who has shot with many photographers in Atlanta which are black too (which is a Mecca for ethnicity)and it's sad I know many have drifted away and barely post on here anymore. Now before I get to the cons here a my pros: I have met great photographers and great creators of the craft, few opportunities and some paid gigs. Now the cons: MM could have had power over the years, but narcissistic and slightly racist moderators/employees have run it for too long. Talking to some (not all) of the moderators are a joke, my guess is 'Moderator 7' must be Brandi. She has been utterly the rudest, (especially from photographers I have known for years having really bad backlash from her) I myself have tried to be diplomatic but you can tell she is miserable and condescending, even 'toggle safe' pictures of me in swimsuits or lingerie that are tasteful I am shunned upon, but white females can be nude, a** out, spread eagle nude and in swimsuits without the 'toggle safe'. Also, since everything going on in this country (with BLM) NOW they want to actually feature black women which they really don't do and never did (but the same 2 black main 'waif looking' models they have for years). The contests are a joke, same photographers always win. I was featured in VIP front page..only 7 years later in 2018, really it took that long for me? *sigh* I laugh because Social Networking rules and the internet reviews (like MM thinks these don't exist). There is more than MM out there for models. Everything is a free enterprise now in the way you promote yourself. Always, always glitches with the site, and don't dare complain or even sometimes come with a positive comment cause you will be 'condescended' by the 'almighty moderators' (not all of them). The app needs more help than the homeless panhandling on a street corner (if they still have it cause it always freezes on me). Seems to me this company is the type that has an owner that let's the employees do what they want to do and you can tell none of them have a clue about modeling or social organization skills, let alone the owner even knowing how people on the site are treated. MM upgrade yourself and get rid of the trash that works for you that have made your site unsuitable to even be proud of in the modeling industry for old school talent and newbies. And no please don't even comment to me after this with a 'Were sorry' or "Thank you for your comment' of what I have written...MM change your ways and broaden the horizons y'all have over there. Y'all still have some potential left if you get the right moderators, invite better professionals and people that actually want to save that site.read more
Reviewed on 2020-09-11T00:10:58
a good jumping off point
Reviewed on 2020-09-08T03:14:11
I originally joined with a vip account for at the time, it was a pretty good site but then I got toknow the truth and changed to a basic account and the truth is that MM depends on membership to stay open and yet their moderators and admins have no respect for the very people that keep the site going and over the years I death with harassment and bullying then they started putting restrictions on me and just for speaking my mind about their attitude then they deleted my account then they blocked me on facebook and instagram. This site is also full of perverts and the reason they blocked me on facebook is because I confronted someone for making sexual comments about a woman's naked backside and instead of deleting his comments, they instead blocked me so go figure...
And to all the models out there thinking of joining, my advice to you is, stay away and as far as possible from this site for it's full of perverts.read more