I see P411 is now accepting new clients. If I were to join would I be able to browse the profiles of providers on P411? And would I be able to contact providers through the P411 website?

And I would strongly recommend anyone active in the little hobby of ours who lives in any kind of decent sized city join P 411 if they are able.  

They also recently began accepting new applications from Providers (ahem, excuse me  Companions). Not directly but via two verified Client vouchers.

So I just joined P411 and see that for each provider there is a "Request Appointment" option as well as a "Send Email" option. Which option do you guys use to contact a provider? Also, P411 encourages hobbyists to post a picture as part of their profile. I was thinking about posting a cartoon-style character but they seem quite strict when it comes to copyright saying if you upload a picture you don't own they will terminate your account. Any suggestions?

I use Request Appointment if I haven’t seen the provider before, unless there’s other contact directions on her web site (if she has one).  That assumes her P411 profile says “contact through P411”, which is pretty standard.  The Send Email option is useful to get her email address; you can cancel sending the email.  That’s come in handy a couple of times over the years when I didn’t get a response to my appointment request and I really wanted to see the provider. So I followed up with an email asking if she’d received my request. Each time the provider said she hadn’t received the appointment request, so it was good I followed up.  

I appreciate everyone's advice.

What happens when you click "Request Appointment" on a provider's P411 profile? Is some kind of generic message instantly sent to the provider along with access to your profile or do you get to send a personalized message along with the request? If I can send a personalized message how long should it be considering there is a lot of information already there in my profile? I know when emailing a provider for the first time you should send a detailed introduction rather than just a couple of sentences but P411 is obviously different so I'm unsure of how to structure my introduction when using the service.

Newbie here but Ive worked in Australia and recently 1yr in Toronto (Home base)
What is the protocol for requesting an invite?
Sps have to be invited by clients in order to join however its quite difficult to find clients who are active p411 members.  

I can't help with the P411 question, but if you like to post your photos, you can do so on the "Photo Only" board. Not much activity there, but around 15-20 daily lookers.  Ask about the "rules" if you have any questions.
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(Technically, I don't think that photos are allowed on Newbie or General, etc.. Admin might be able to remove the photo but leave your post intact. If your post is taken down completely by Admin, repost it WITHOUT the photo.)