ModelMayhem.com PHOTO WEBSITE KILLS OFF PHOTOGRAPHER ! TAKES MONEY, KICKS PEOPLE OFF AND KEEPS THEIR MONEY El Segundo, California Internet

My photographer friend Bill died last week. From what I can learn, he either stopped eating and went into a diabetic coma or took something. Either way, he was really killed by a website (aptly) known as ModelMayhem.

Bill lost his wife 15years ago. His kids had grown up and moved away, so he made photography his family. His shoots were always pure fun. He was incredibly kind and giving. When a model was busted for having pot on her way to a remote shoot , Bill put up $3k of his own for bail and helped her get home. Never asked for the money back or anything else.

Bill woke up one morning around August 1, turned on his computer and saw an unexpected email. It said "removal from ModelMayhem" . That was it - no details, no warning. There was also no refund of several hundred dollars in advance payments for ads and photo storage.

Thinking it was a hoax, Bill checked and found his profile had indeed been taken down. Half a decade of work was erased in a single stroke. Contacts, ongoing chats, friends, etc. all blocked. Bill tried to find out WTF was going on but was stonewalled.

Someone told Bill he had images disqualified from the MM photo contests going back years. He believed it actually might have been related to false Internet smack talk about him which linked his MM account. The MM management of course claims they ignore offsite gossip - just like cops claim they ignore the race of people they shoot.

Bill was devastated because he had nothing left to make a life with. Whatever the "real" reason, all I know for sure is there was no *good* reason for what was done to him. Reviews of the site indicate the practice of arbitrarily kicking people off and keeping their money is commonplace. How many thousands of dollars has ModelMayhem.com ripped off this way?

I am putting out this word because I think people need to be warned how cold and disrespectful the management of ModelMayhem.com is to its users. When it suits the management, they just make people disappear without warning for bogus reasons. The effect is has on the person is irrelevant to them.

In other words, if you’re a photographer on MM don’t buy any green bananas. Don’t EVER post pictures in the contests; you’re just building up points to "game over". Better yet, don’t join the site at all.

Bill will be greatly missed by me and the other models he worked with. I hope Bill’s family finds a way to get justice.

And please pass this on.

See also:

http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.modelmayhem.com