We did a minor upgrade today between 11:00 am and 11:30 am Pacific time. For a change, we actually took the site offline during this upgrade. The reason for this was because it provided a good time to do a quick database recycle and optimization, and since we were upgrading a few core files (the code that runs the deep backend of the site), we didn't want to risk someone being on the site and doing a page load right as an old file was removed and a new one put in place. Although the odds are vanishingly small of something going wrong when that happens, it's possible - so why risk it?

This upgrade is what is called a "dot release," meaning that it's mostly very minor bugs, unreported bugs (things we've discovered that nobody else has), and two security fixes that, frankly, we're not going to tell you about. :-) (No, that doesn't mean we're hiding anything, that means that we patched two potential security holes that nobody had found yet. There's no reason to give hackers any ideas by talking about them, though.)

We're in the home stretch right now with the site. We have one major upgrade to an existing system, one major upgrade to a new system, and one surprise, all scheduled to be completed this summer. We've hired some new people in the past month, and they're working on other, new things that we hope will impress you.

Oh, and we still haven't had a single 502 error since we went online over a year ago. Just saying.

Or, Why Model Insider loves its international members!

With the rollout of the new casting calls, travel notices and directory system, we bring another aspect of Model Insider into the global realm and add geolocation to all of those systems. What does this mean? Simply put, Model Insider is the first truly global networking site in our industry.

We don't rely on ZIP codes or postal codes, making the site US-centric or Canada-centric. We don't have a huge database of cities that is not only missing many important areas but also suffers from inaccuracies and an inability to pinpoint your location if you live someplace not in the database. And we don't require you to jump through hoops to find your location or the location of others.

As described in a previous blog post, we've chosen to simply rely on the expertise and experience of Google, who have solved this problem with Google Maps. Every user has their location geocoded (that's geek-speak for "you tell us where you are") on a map. Every casting call, every travel notice, every studio listing ... all have their locations on a map. When you go to use any system at Model Insider, you can bring up a map and find what you're looking for.

Zoom in. Zoom out. Pan around. Filter your results to eliminate things you're not interested in. Expand your results to find those things you want. The capabilities are pretty-much limitless.

And while we've not been able to anticipate everything our membership wants to do, we have the ability to add new features and functionality as you request them. So use the new systems and get us feedback on what you think. We have developers just sitting around, bored, waiting to implement your ideas!

Okay, that "sitting around bored" part isn't true.

We had a major code rollout over the weekend, so I'd like to take you through it and let you all know what's new, what's changed, and our thought process behind it all. Before I dive in, though, let me note two things. First, these enhancements and changes are based on a lot of feedback. We get a lot of email with ideas and suggestions and we read and consider them all. With a nod that they are often contradictory (one person wants something and another person wants the opposite), trends do show up, and a good idea is a good idea. So we listen, and it plays a huge role in our planning. Second, we're not perfect. Many of the changes we roll out are evolutionary, as opposed to revolutionary. What that means is that if something doesn't work, we're not afraid to try something else. Perhaps that "something else" will also fail; we're not afraid to fail and try again if that's what it takes. That said, we feel that we've got a solid platform now, and we're working to make it even better.

So... what have we done? Simply put, we replaced the casting calls and travel notices with a much better system, added full geolocation services and expanded the system to create directories for events, studios, classified ads and services. We can create new directories (or remove underused ones) immediately, and we can also change the layout and fields of any of these systems on the fly. What that means is that if we missed something, we can correct that omission. Already, we're getting some feedback that studio listings are missing some obvious information, and we're going to add those in the next day or two.

The framework for casting calls and travel notices is pretty basic right now, but extremely powerful. The database can be searched on any field, the mapping system leverages Google Maps (meaning that we get anything that Google creates), and our system is designed to let us pull data from it in many different ways. Some of our ideas include promoting featured castings and travel notices on our search engine, TFP.me, and other web sites (both our own, as well as those we will be partnering with). You read that right: it's our intention to help you get your casting calls and travel notices seen. Part of a successful networking site is getting you the exposure you need to book those shoots. We have some serious ideas on how to do this, and we're putting those ideas to work. Now that we have a solid system, we start to turn our attention to using it. That's part of the benefit of designing Model Insider right - we don't have to spend a lot of time fixing ongoing problems and apologizing for the inconvenience.

So place a casting call! Place a travel notice! Advertise your studio or event! And then drop us an email and let us know what you think. There's no way we got this 100% right the first time, so please feel free to not only let us know what you like, but what you don't like. Is anything confusing? Is anything missing? Is there anything we put in there that you think should be removed? Remember, we listen!

And stay tuned... the next blog entry will be about the new top-level menu structure and why we did it that way.

We just rolled out the new directory system. This is a very short blog entry just to let everyone know that it's public and that we're running it through its paces. You could call it a public beta, but it's already been tested for functionality, so that wouldn't be quite right. What we're doing now is making it available and watching how people use it and asking our membership to give us feedback on what they like, what they don't like, and how we can refine the system and make it better. It's coded in such a way that rapid changes can be made at any time and with no downtime.

This new system runs our casting calls and travel notice system, complete with map-based geolocation, proximity searching and radius notification. It also supports our directory system which includes classified ads, a studio directory, services directory and events directory.

We can add information to any of those directories, as well as add new directories at any time, so we're serious when we say we want to hear from you. We've tried to anticipate as many needs as we could, but there's no way that we got this 100% right - but with usage and feedback, we can and will!

There will be a much more detailed blog entry later, outlining the features of the new directory system and answering your questions.

Outright Scams
 
This article goes beyond the typical Nigerian scam, where a model or photographer (or anyone, for that matter) is told that they’ve been selected for a job, paid in advance with a fake check or money order, and asked to wire money from that fake check elsewhere. When the check is returned as fraudulent, the victim is out the money that they wired. In this more detailed article by Roger Talley, the author of “The Professional’s Guide to Modeling,” many of the other kinds of scams are explained. Often, someone might not realize that something is wrong because it doesn’t fit the pattern of the known Nigerian scam. Reading this article will educate members of our community and teach them that not only are there many different kinds of scams, but how to recognize them and avoid them.
 
Model Insider is pleased to provide this information for the community on behalf of and with the compliments of Roger and his web site, NewModels.com – we highly recommend that everyone, new and experienced alike, thoroughly read his site and encourage everyone to help new members of our community by providing them links to these sites and articles. With a little education, we can prevent a lot!