Can we revisit pool eligibility?
Willowitaly-PGO
Posts: 86 ✭✭✭
The November 2020 AMA stated that “private residences or hotels (or other similar residentially-focused locations)” are not eligible. There is a very pervasive belief that apartment complex pools, even ones that are publicly accessible, are not eligible because they are “residentially-focused.”
This seems strange to many people, since tennis courts, shuffleboard courts, gazebos, and even pergolas in the pool area are commonly accepted, but people maintain that the pool is not.
I know Nia has flip-flopped on pools in the past, but as stated in the same question, public pools are acceptable, so aren’t apartment pools, which often can be accessed by non-residents, and are even sometimes at a completely different building (an apartment community center/clubhouse).
So are these pools acceptable, as places to exercise and honestly to come together and socialize?
Comments
I see this isn't getting many votes but this is a huge issue for me. The answer from the November AMA which is available on the "Help" menu says "swimming pools at private residences or hotels (or other similar residentially-focused locations) are ineligible." But I see multiple nominations for neighborhood and apartment pools every review session. And I see a lot of approved ones showing up nearby.
This sounds like the PoI in military bases. Just go ahead and ignore that AMA if they are being approved and you can't really explain in a meaningful way why that shouldn't be valid.
Pool are a dangerous place. Drowning is the first the leading accidental cause of dying for kids 1 to 4. Most of them in private pools.
They are the only public places that needs constant supervision from trained safe guards.
Appartment pools do not provide the same supervision, so they cannot be eligible.
"An average of 379 children under age 15 die in reported drownings each year. That number ticked upward in recent years, hitting 395 deaths in 2017.
Another 6,700 children wind up in hospital emergency rooms each year for injuries related to drownings, an equivalent of 18 children per day"
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/health/pool-child-drowning-****-wellness/index.html
If you actually read the last answer to the swimming pool question, you will notice that Niantic is placing pools into one of two general categories: monitored and unmonitored. Public pools, aquatic centers, university pools, and sport arenas/complexes are going to fall unto the monitored category. Most hotel pools, apartment pools, and other residentially-focused pools are going to fall unto the unmonitored category. And before someone even attempts to make that claim, security cameras watching the pool doesn't mean that the pool is monitored.
By monitored, do you mean a lifeguard? Just cause I've seen a few hotel pools that have lifeguards
Not just lifeguards, but also controlled access. In short, no one should be able to enter the pool area if there is no staff.
Just saw that another one I rejected per the criteria go live. I am getting so frustrated by this issue.
If this is the case, then uncontrolled pools should be placed on the ineligible list, rather than just leaving this as an AMA question. There’s nothing in the current rejection criteria that even comes close to making this distinction, we’re just told they don’t meet criteria, in an entirely separate page.
That’s also a ridiculous claim to make when there are unmonitored public pools and apartment pools that are closed & locked when no-lifeguard, and the distinction between public pools and “residential” pools gets even fuzzier when you consider that there are “public” pools you have to be a resident of a specific area to access.
@NianticDanbocat is this good advice - to just ignore a statement from Niantic still in the help section of the Wayfarer menu? I know you said y'all are working on updating outdated statements. I am so tired of trying my best to go by criteria but not getting agreements for it.
Here is the complete quote from https://wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/new/help/niantic-wayfarer-november-2020-ama
Since I have no guidance otherwise, and other folks here agree that they should be eligible, I am going back to my original interpretation of this that "public pool" means any pool that is not at a single family home or a hotel. I had been convinced that "public pool" meant "municipal pool" but legally that is not what it means: https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/public-pool
I'd interpret "other similarly residentially-focussed locations" as pools in the grounds of Condos or multi-residence apartment blocks as well.
Well, they are more "residentially focused" than a hotel. Your interpretation seems correct.
@VladDraco-PGO great response! I totally agree with you.
I've just come here because I wanted clarification on why a university pool I just submitted got declined.
And this thread comes the closest to a reasonable idea for why people could consider it ineligible - it's unmonitored.
It's at an Australian University campus that pretty much only does agriculture, so not overly busy.
If that is indeed the reasoning people are using, can it be clarified further please.
If not I'm just going to assume people are bitter at places they're not allowed to access.
Aha! This was pointed out to me on Discord - is that you @Selner-ING ? - that @NianticGiffard had already clarified this issue that apartment pools are NOT eligible - so that is how I will vote (and continue to not get agreements)
https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/comment/51200#Comment_51200
"Tricky one there! Publicly accessible amenities inside Apartment complexes could still be eligible as long as they meet all of the acceptance criteria as mentioned in our November AMA. However, swimming pools inside residential properties (including multi-family residential apartments and hotels) are an exception to these criteria and are deemed ineligible."
We desperately need a searchable database of these decisions and a way to make sure the average reviewer sees them!