Heya!! I registered for this website because a friend of mine wants the model for a character, and I noticed that the model is currently 'pending' and I'd like to see if I could push someone to accept it!
Welcome! I'm pretty new myself, so I don't know all of the details but I don't think there is any need to worry about the status of your friend's model. From my understanding each of the websites have hundreds of submissions per week, each of which needs to be checked manually by the sites' administrators. I don't know about models, but a custom sprite sheet I sent in last week took about three days to be accepted. I expect a similar wait for the submission I put in the other day. I'd wager a model submission will have a similar pending period if not a little bit longer. If the admins have any problems I'm sure they'll inform your friend as soon as possible, no cajoling necessary. In the meantime you can have fun exploring the sites and the forums. I hope to see you around!