What’s your experience so far of Niantic reviews?

You log in and see you’ve got the below on some nominations.

Panic? Or calm? Or does it depend what it is you’ve submitted.

Do you feel that the Niantic team provide enough feedback on how to improve if rejected etc. ?

Just raising as I now have two in Niantic Voting, and I wonder how they’ll be rated by them.

Comments

  • Gendgi-PGOGendgi-PGO Posts: 3,534 Ambassador

    "2* out of 5*, would not revisit."


    I had an observation/water access pier denied by Niantic that would have gone through (would even have passed on an upgrade) and a river access site denied by Niantic. I had 2 other rejections I suspect were denied by Niantic but weren't the traditional "." rejection reason.

    I did have 3 nominations accepted that I was delighted passed! A footbridge completely hidden by trees, a trail system underpass connecting a neighborhood to a park under a busy street, and a local clothing store. The bridge and clothing store I "caught" disappear and took less than a day to be approved.

    Panic? Calm? Depends. An emotional rollercoaster that results in confirmation bias either way. "I knew it was eligible" or "I knew Niantic was -----."

  • tehstone-INGtehstone-ING Posts: 1,154 Ambassador

    Personally? Fine now that the weird "doesn't sync to ingress" issue seems to have been resolved. I have had only 2 and both were approved, both were high quality candidates and a rejection on either would have been a huge surprise. I have had no "dot" rejections.

    That said... seeing the lack of quality in many things that have been approved via Niantic review as well as the seemingly good candidates rejected by internal review I have some doubts.

  • HankWolfman-PGOHankWolfman-PGO Posts: 4,844 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I've still only had the one Niantic review. It got accepted. Kinda wishing one of my other nominations would get randomly assigned to them to be honest, as I can't really base my opinion on just one review haha.

  • KwyjiboHan-PGOKwyjiboHan-PGO Posts: 128 ✭✭✭

    I have nominations over a year in queue.

    Weirdly, Niantic have picked up three nominations I made within the last two weeks to review.

    I'm annoyed that some incompetent '.' rejections I got earlier this year were ignored despite Niantic saying they'd like to review them in the Bug squashing thread.

    https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/23572/bug-squashing/p1

  • Kawhinot-INGKawhinot-ING Posts: 189 ✭✭✭

    Yeah, it seems that Niantic is reviewing those of mine that are very recent. It would make more sense if they are able to review those that are ancient. @NianticTintino -- is there no way that Niantic reviewers can be presented instead with some of the oldest nominations in queue to help get them unstuck from being in queue?

  • feliscybernicus-PGOfeliscybernicus-PGO Posts: 97 ✭✭✭

    2/4 accepted by Niantic, a pergola and a park, as should. They were a pleasant surprise and passed very quick.

    2/4 still in voting. Slight concern because it's taking so long (3 weeks and counting for the other one). Plus realized they were missing some vital information, especially since the other one was nom-napped before I even had a chance to edit it after submitting.

    I feel Niantic should focus on nominations that are several months or years old. I feel it kind of counterproductive they're browsing through more fresh nominations instead.

  • X0bai-PGOX0bai-PGO Posts: 1,667 ✭✭✭✭✭

    They’ve taken three of mine, approved one. The two they rejected were marginal so I’m not broken up about it, while the one they approved was several months old so I’m glad they got it out of the way.

    If they pulled one now I’d just consider it a free upgrade.

  • Shilfiell-INGShilfiell-ING Posts: 1,559 Ambassador

    I'm not a frequent submitter this time of year (rarely out in sunlit conditions) so I've only had one Niantic review as far as I know, and it was accepted. This was one of the original Niantic Review No Ingress Portal cases. Although my one Niantic review had a happy outcome, I still have seen many depictions of incorrectly accepted or rejected candidates on these boards, and I have little to no confidence in the accuracy of these reviewers. I'd love to know if they get cooldowns, if they're subject to any disciplinary actions based on their decisions, if they have to pass a reviewer's test, and what their numbers look like. I think they're working outside their scope and should stick to the legally required PRP reviews, and leave the remainder to the more experienced and democratic voting process of the community.

  • patsufredo-PGOpatsufredo-PGO Posts: 4,215 ✭✭✭✭✭

    They took 3 of mine and all of them are thankfully approved. Now they took the 4th one.

    Agree with everyone else here, there's a chance that your newly submitted nominations will be taken and reviewed by Niantic. I still didn't hear they took nominations in queue/voting for months or years to be reviewed.

  • 1253mi-PGO1253mi-PGO Posts: 49 ✭✭

    Niantic should keeps their paws off of old nominations. Imagine waiting and waiting to get your nomination looked at locally by people from your own culture/area only to have it be taken away by one person who is working 12,000km away and has a totally different cultural experience. At least if they reject a new nomination you can just put it back up without any perceived loss.

  • feliscybernicus-PGOfeliscybernicus-PGO Posts: 97 ✭✭✭

    This would actually be a cool idea and I like it, but sadly it should probably be noted that just because a reviewer is old and experienced, doesn't always mean that person had the best understanding of the criteria as a whole. There could still be old biases or personal rivalries involved. For example, I know old reviewers who would still reject playgrounds, wouldn't consider picnic areas as eligible, would reject art if they didn't like it, who still operate like this was still the old OPR, that kind of thing. How could Niantic make sure this type of issues wouldn't rise up anyway? 🤔

  • TrevorAlan-PGOTrevorAlan-PGO Posts: 998 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Just had my first one snatched by Niantic. 1 week old nomination, already in voting naturally. It was with the Niantic logo for about 1 day and was just approved by them. So with my sample size of 1 not too bad so far. (all though they should prioritize OLD nominations first before even touching anything else in my opinion)

  • Elijustrying-INGElijustrying-ING Posts: 5,482 Ambassador

    I’ve had 7 reviewed - nothing recently, all in earlier batches (August-Sept) that disappeared.

    5 accepted some of them were ones I would not say were straight shoe ins, but I had made good cases so was pleased.

    The 2 rejected were middling, one they probably thought was PRP even though I’d pointed out it was flats and there are clear signs saying flats. Certainly worth trying again.

    So not a bad rate and best of all they all got resolved quickly when it normally is 2 years plus.

    Real annoyance was the issue over non-sync to ingress and all that mess

  • ForzaComo-INGForzaComo-ING Posts: 187 ✭✭✭

    I do not worry. All reviewed by Niantic have been accepted so far - and rightly so as they were eligible wayspots with proper supplemental information in English.

    My only concern is one nomination that is in Niantic review right now as there were references to the former Finnish president Urho Kekkonen who has a "Mao-like" cult status in Finland. His importance would surely have been better understood by the local reviewers. :D

  • D1Rower-PGOD1Rower-PGO Posts: 15 ✭✭

    Niantic has captured 3 of my last 15 to review. No problem. But my friend has nominated at least 30 POIs during the same period with 0 Niantic reviews. Is Niantic targeting specific players, geographic areas, or is it supposed to be “random”? Also each of the three were 20 miles or more away from each other so it’s not like they are looking at a cluster of nominations.

  • ForzaComo-INGForzaComo-ING Posts: 187 ✭✭✭

    I would assume that Niantic reviews have some kind of geographic factor within.

    I usually submit a lot of nominations to a not yet very crowded areas and it has been typical that one (and never more than one) of those gets reviewed by Niantic.

  • Raachermannl-INGRaachermannl-ING Posts: 1,070 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I don't know how many they accepted, because the icon disappears in the list.

    I have one rejection, for that I started an appeal. It's not a 5* candidate, but it's enough to be eligible, it' should be treated like something in between a hiking trail marker and a memorial object in front of the criteria. The first wave of these objects made a 75% success rate according to the reviewer community. That is a way better acceptance rate than real hiking trail markers!

    Now we sent a second and a third wave of these distance markers. Now one of them got again a Nia review, and its voting-phase is longer than those without Nia. That's strange. Third wave until now only acceptance xD

  • Belahzur-INGBelahzur-ING Posts: 632 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Haven't had any of my stuff taken by Niantic...yet.

    However right now my opinion is: If Niantic reviews take weeks into months (some of what I've seen, people's Nia-reviews have taken several weeks, and I'm talking 6-8 weeks here), then may as well resubmit and upgrade it.

    One of my locals had his sub taken by Niantic, and returned ~2 months later, in which time he had already resubbed it, upgraded it and had it accepted BEFORE the Niantic review came back, in which they duped it.

    --------------

    Secondly, in my own experience, my local area takes anywhere from 6 months+ towards 1-year to get a result without an upgrade, thus I have to upgrade literally everything if I want a decent turnaround time, which is whatever, the system has always been like that for a long time.

    Now lets say in theory Niantic do some day take one of my things for internal review, and it was something I was gonna upgrade anyway (see above), then what's the point of Niantic reviewing my things? I can just resubmit it (assuming I'm within ~25kms - Ingress) and undercut the Niantic review, thus making their review of my things utterly pointless and get a much faster turnaround with an upgrade - I'm not waiting 6 weeks to get something accepted that should take ~5mins to workout if it's eligible, I could upgrade the same submission several times over in the time it takes Niantic to review something 6 weeks later.

  • Nadiwereb-PGONadiwereb-PGO Posts: 1,119 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Are there any examples of these appeals actually being looked at and rejections being reversed? I've just had a massive amount of clearly eligible things rejected by Niantic (I made a separate post about it) and I'm debating if it's worth trying to make appeals or I should just go and resubmit them.

  • Raachermannl-INGRaachermannl-ING Posts: 1,070 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The thread, that my linked thread linked, mentions a case. The wayspot is now there, and the result changed in the wayfinders nominations list.

  • Nadiwereb-PGONadiwereb-PGO Posts: 1,119 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Alright. I'll probably appeal those that I think are definitely eligible even without local cultural knowledge.

  • I think there is a lack of training for some evaluators, they confuse a university building with a primary school, and confuse a cultural community center with a health center. On the other hand, a mural is divided into sections as if they were isolated works and they become many wayspots in the same place
    


  • GymLeadrBryan-PGOGymLeadrBryan-PGO Posts: 16 ✭✭

    I dislike this system, with a sample size of 1.

    First as many have commented, they are grabbing new submissions not ones that have been in queue for months.

    Second, the one they grabbed of mine was rejected, and the email only says 'Niantic Review Reason'. It would be nice to understand that reason better.

    It is a wrapped electric box, with a garden picture. Similar to hundreds of other portals, located on the sidewalk and not on public property. I would like to know the reason so I can either fix the submission or remove others that fit the same rejection criteria.

  • flatmatt-PGOflatmatt-PGO Posts: 2,137 ✭✭✭✭✭

    If it's only wrapped to make it look prettier/prevent vandalism, and not actually covered with original art, then I would probably agree with the rejection, as it doesn't sound like it meets any of the acceptance criteria. Of course, we have no idea if that was the actual reason the Niantic reviewer rejected it, so indeed it isn't terribly helpful in that respect.

    Also, please remember that removal criteria are not the same as acceptance criteria. Niantic is unlikely to remove an existing wayspot just because it doesn't meet any of the (current) acceptance criteria. It would need to meet one of the removal criteria, like being on private residential property.

  • Kawhinot-INGKawhinot-ING Posts: 189 ✭✭✭

    I have a different perspective. I have quite a few nominations that have been stuck in queue for months, and am assuming that there are other older nominations submitted from others in that area that have not been decisioned yet, and as a result, my nomination is stuck behind them. I have a number of old nominations like this and it would take too many upgrades to get them cleared.

    Also, the longer it takes for a nomination to get fully reviewed, the more opportunities then exist for others to submit that same point of interest, not knowing that it was nominated earlier by someone else. As a result, the subsequent nominations just further clog up Wayfarer.

  • Nadiwereb-PGONadiwereb-PGO Posts: 1,119 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Just a quick update: I posted my first appeal, it'll appear when it clears picture control. I'll see what happens and if this system works, I'll probably post others as well.

  • GymLeadrBryan-PGOGymLeadrBryan-PGO Posts: 16 ✭✭

    I disagree, but should have explained better though I didn't think it was needed.

    Each year the city I am in and many others around me allow for artists and photographers to submit their art to be displayed on these boxes. So the title when I submit is always the same as the artist submitted, and credit to the artist in the description along with a link in the supporting information to the website where all the selected winners are displayed.

    So I am still annoyed that when Niantic rejects a submission we can not see they reason why.


    As for reporting all the others for removal, that was my petty frustration with this system coming through. My opinion is we need more black and white answers on what's allowed and what isn't, and the reviewing system needs to account for people not knowing what they are looking for. It is irritating to get a rejection and then see something just like it approved a week later. But thats not what this thread is about so I will leave it at that.

  • ScaryS0ul-PGOScaryS0ul-PGO Posts: 162 ✭✭✭

    I had a nomination with niantic logo for a few days, but today, the logo is gone and the nomination is still in voting 😅

  • Gendgi-PGOGendgi-PGO Posts: 3,534 Ambassador

    I'm not sure I would change my "2* out of 5*" mark, however I did have one of my Wayspot decisions overturned. They had explicitly rejected it for failing to meet a pre-3.1 guidance (not even a hard rule). When pointed out, it was overturned. I have no doubt the candidate would have passed on its own if Niantic had never reviewed it.


    I still feel like Niantic approvals are a bit of a coin toss, and I don't think I'm alone. I have seen less reports of "categorically ineligible" candidates slipping through, though, except for the recent military base location.

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