FedorasBox: My naked ass is ruining the integrity of ModelMayhem

KittyTwo — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:00:25 +0000

The biggest problem MM has, as a site and as a community, is that it exists to assist a bunch of untalented amateurs into deluding themselves into believing that they are going to be big professionals some day. As a result, someone like Fedora gets the short end of the stick because she is actually genuinely trying to do something real and independent.

MM will always support models and photographers listing their more corporate achievements because corporate achievements make them feel successful. Even other people’s corporate achievements make moderators with lackluster personal portfolios feel like they are going to make it big some day. Never mind the fact that major corporations are always happy to mine the desperate wannabe underground for free labor. What do you think powers the music industry?

Fedora is not the first model or photographer to be forced to remove a link to APN. The rule appears to be that corporate credits like Hustler and SuicideGirls and GodsGirls and Playboy will be overlooked. But credits with genuinely independent sites like FedorasBox and BrokenDollz and Blue Blood and BellaVendetta are likely to come under scrutiny. That the scrutiny generally comes from moderators with very limited portfolios is a given. If they spent more time shooting, and less time persecuting and passing judgment on people like Fedora, then maybe they really would become big time professionals some day, just like their delusional fantasies.

FedorasBox writes:

I usually save the bitching for my close friends over beer, but this issue is so relevant to my intentions with why I make erotica in the first place.

ModelMayhem.com is a website where models, photographers, stylists, and makeup artists can post portfolios and network for free. There are forums, 20 pictures slots, ways to link credits to people involved in the creation of an image, and lots and lots of drama.

Did I mention that almost everyone I have ever worked with has a page on this ModelMayhem? It is just that popular.

Now, I have gotten a lot of headaches on this site. There are a lot of people who shoot strictly TFCD that flood the forums with non-professional casting calls, but that I can overlook.

There are a lot of so-called professionals who refuse to discuss industry techniques. Maybe it is such a competitive industry that they feel insecure about their ability to maintain their status. This I can overlook. I am confident in my skills.

There is a seemingly, underlying, (and publicly stated) agenda for model mayhem moderators to try to push alternative models, fine art, and nude models off the site entirely. They seem to feel that they would like things better there if all the WHORES left to do WHORE things. Because everyone knows that being seen nude by a photographer makes you a porn star. and everyone knows that Playboy is Tasteful. And Suicide Girls is art.

Boring!

I had a moderator tell me that they were removing my portfolio (which gets several hundred hits per day on model mayhem.) in 24 hours if I did not remove all PORN LINKS.

“Links” and “porn” are not well defined words of the English language on model mayhem. In the fashion guidebook followed by all elitist pricks on ModelMayhem, PORN is defined as “Eww” and “Link” is defined as any reference to something, whatsoever, no matter if you have to google a phrase, find a site, sign up for a subscription, and dig 5 pages deep before you get to see any vagina.

OMG! REFERENCE TO MY VAGINA IS RUINING FASHION!

So, with 24 hours to remove all reference to all my web clients from my portfolio, I was left a hole in my resume.

Did I mention Female nudity is allowed on modelmayhem. Penis is not. Female Nipples are not allowed to be avatars. I wonder if I photoshop some male nipples onto a woman’s body, if that will save the fashion industry from the evils of human sexuality?

I removed the one HYPERLINK (because I am smart and can read a dictionary) from my page. Done. 12 hours later, the MOD tells me I have a few more hours to complete their request or I will be banished. Wait, let me just post our conversation: [Link]

Bloggers and Site ops: Ping-o-matic doesn’t want you

EdRoth — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 21:09:35 +0000

It appears that Ping-o-matic, a service that passes on update pings from blogs to several search engines and is used by default in WordPress installs, may not want to handle traffic from sites with adult content. From Dougal Campbell’s blog:

> Do you have any idea of why I can not ping your site anymore?

Because we don’t want pings from porn sites?

What disturbs me about this post:

No reason is given for blocking the site, other than their content.
Obviously if this person was abusing the service, that would be understandable grounds for removal. But no mention is made of that.
Porn is equated with spam
Dougal placed his post in the “spam” category. Again, no mention was made of abuse of the service, the site being a known spammer, or what have you — just that it’s a “porn site.”

Given the way some people in the industry choose to handle their business, it’s not entirely surprising that many (most?) people equate porn with spam. But it’s flawed thinking, not unlike equating labor unions with organized crime, or George W. Bush with christianity.
What exactly is a “porn site?”
Is it just commercial sites that make you pay for access to pornographic materials, or does it include any site that has adult content? What about SugarBank, or Wilful Damage, or Ms Kitka?
Ping-o-matic has no terms of service information
Ping-o-matic is privately owned, and is well within their legal rights to deny service to anyone they choose. If they are going to deny use of their service based purely on site content, though, it only seems fair that they tell you up front. They don’t have to, I guess, but it’s not unreasonable to expect.

censorship – AltPorn.net – alt.porn erotica

FedorasBox: My naked ass is ruining the integrity of ModelMayhem

Bloggers and Site ops: Ping-o-matic doesn’t want you