That tune from the musical Chicago sums it up for me:

"Cellophane seems to be my name"

Paul T.

Art, 

Maybe the live chat might work if there was a chat time set, that way people know someone will be there. 

Leanne, 

While there's 4 of us from Galway here (maybe a 5th or 6th soon), we're not being deliberately insular. Whatever about flying to Cork, getting to Galway, or from Galway to NI is either a 7 hour bus trip, or a long drive. 

That said, maybe a suitably placed Charity event might drag us up. 

Sean.

I haven't noticed too many cliques per se.

There is an obvious geographic divide, which in itself is going to form groups. There is also a style divide, with some models and photographers very glamour oriented and others not at all so. I guess the final "grouping" is simply between people that "know" eachother (be that online or in real life). These things are natural occurrences and happen in all forums. As long as newer members don't feel excluded, I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing.

One suggestion for models that want to get more paid work, is that they do have to appeal to people beyond their own bunch of grapes though. For instance, it's unlikely I'd ever shoot a Northern model, that only has glamour shots in her profile and has never made any effort to converse (in blogs or forums) with anyone outside of her current bunch of grapes.

Great responses and an even better outcome when a post results in positive changes being made for the site.

I'm glad that my suspicions were correct and, despite the sentiment that is sometimes bandied about regarding clicks and people feeling left out, the general feeling is actually the opposite - that if people ask for help/opinions/or simply introduce themselves, then they find the site in general welcoming and friendly

I do agree that having to be someone's "friend" to see their profile and make contact can be seen as a barrier, although I understand why people should be able to choose this option for privacy on the internet, however I'm a person who finds it difficult to create a friends list with strangers I'm making contact with, which explains why my list is so small and does, hopefully explain why I don't accept every stranger who adds me as a friend, until I've met or spoken to them.

Hi
I thought I would add my 2 cents worth as Leanne said I also think there are those who bunch together. I have been a member for a while and have posted a few items however felt that there was little feedback on what you have taken and I mean constructive. I wrote to someone at the start and got replies from them but when recently I tried was got a message was something like not a friend. In all thetime I have have been here apart from administrator I think I have got one person who has listed their profile as a friend. I haven't really added anything for a long time and was basically for that reason, I know I am not a professional nor would even be a freelance and I don't have funds coming in to hire so I just photograph what catches my eye wether it be landscapes, street life or just studio night at local club and if posted on site even a note nice but could improve if you do...... would be nice.

Stonewall