Is it really this easy to delete portals?
roanvr2-PGO
Posts: 3 ✭✭
In this week, three portals have been removed in a small area where I live. It is definitely rare that those portals were Gyms on Pokémon GO, so I assume those reports were intentionally made to obtain a gym in benefit of a few only. Besides, those POIs were attractive, permanent murals located in the street, so it was rather easy to access.
Then I was wondering is it really that easy to remove POIs from Niantic games? I mean, certainly there were a few users (if not only one) who reported the gyms and now they have a gym in a location that doesn’t exist anymore.
How many reports are enough to take the case of deleting a portal, what is the criteria to delete it and does NIANTIC staff really follow that criteria? Because it seems to me they take the reports and solves it as fast as possible without considering the proper measures.
And finally, one of the things that made me so upset about this concern is that it was ME who created the POIs deleted, taking lot of MY time, passing through a tedious process of reviewing to obtain an upgrade and let my nominations go into voting. If they were accepted according to the majority of reviewers, why would it be so easy to delete them. I’m utterly disappointed about this as a wayfinder and as a Niantic customer, and totally disencouraged to keep on participating on the reviewing process as so many others who already left.
Comments
Niantic have to review each Invalid Report. So in theory, it would only take one Invalid Report for a POI to be removed if it is Invalid.
It depends. If the POIs removed meet one of the removal categories published by Niantic, then they will be removed. Any pictures of what were the Portals - I'm guessing they were on the wall of a PRP. You can appeal against a removal.
Wayspots are removed if they meet any of the following conditions:
For all other cases, Niantic will review the location if the (verified) property owner contacts them via the form provided in the Pokémon GO or Ingress Help centers.
As for how many reports does it take to remove a Wayspot, only one. But if the existing Google Maps data is not clear, it sometimes requires an appeal with additional evidence.
There's a forum named "Invalid Wayspots Appeals" where you can appeal against their deletion.
I don't think they will come back as Gyms, though.
I have no idea about how the removal process.
That’s not true. There was something removed near me that doesn’t meet any criteria for removal
Did you mean this one?
I don't know why, either. Is it possible that the person who made the nomination was tied to abuse, or perhaps the community in general? Sometimes Niantic will remove nomination(s) that were wrongfully created by abusive submitters/reviewers. Sometimes the community at large is unaware of the abuse.
I don’t know how something can get “wrongfully created” . Wayspots go through a voting process. People who have passed a test are the ones who are allowed to review the nominations.
I think if misuse of the voting system had been involved, which to remove a point would have to be very clear, then I would expect those accounts either to have received a sanction or at least an email. In this instance it is likely you would have heard about it.
I suspect that the most likely reason is that management of Sunbridge requested it’s removal. If this happens no one would be told. It doesn’t take much to trigger something like this. 1 person seeing someone (1 person) standing around with a phone that they are not comfortable with - perhaps a brief exchange about what are you doing - them complaining to the management.
Had the gym got an AR tag ? If someone stood around doing a scan ( or seeing people do it repeatedly ) it could again make someone very wary. Locally we think this sort of activity triggered an individual to complain and 2 stops were removed.
It is frustrating when this happens after you have gone to the effort to create gyms, but given the response I think the best thing is to put it to one side, learn from this and move on to a new project to find spots and create stops/ gyms trying to avoid a similar thing happening again.
If you don't know that, I suggest you to search this forum for Saint Cloud abuse and learn how much the system has been abused in your town. And maybe as suggested, that wayspot was created by one of those abusers and then removed in one of the clean ups.
Yeah, a lot of colluding (27+ accounts) to get fake and ineligible Wayspots into the network. And based on one of the screenshot Discord messages, it seems to have been organized by two people. So those 27+ accounts where most likely multi-accounts that these two individuals where using to create bad Wayspots.
@SCRMeghanSeward-PGO, I'm not exactly sure why you are defending this particular sign, or signs for other retirement communities that you have made several other appeals for. They don't meet the eligability criteria to begin with and it is clear that they were among the many Wayspots created through abuse. Move on and find something that meets criteria and is worth your time.
Thanks for search info @WheelTrekker-ING
I posted a list of the 4 threads detailing dozens of "wrongfully created" Wayspots but it got forced into moderation review. Are you saying you were unaware of those threads, the abuse, and the collusion to force approval of misplaced and faked Wayspots?
There was an error rendering this rich post.
@TheFarix-PGO so you’re saying I’m not allowed to use this forum to request the return of wayspots? That somehow I should have known why they were deleted?
I never said that you weren't allowed. But now that you that these Wayspots where likely create through abuse and most didn't even meet criteria, you can be more selective in which Wayspots to appeal.
Oh ok, thanks