Easier Upgrades (Cognitive reframing)

So this is just a post that may help to reframe the way people see a very common problem. As many have probably noted (quite vocally perhaps), the quality of nominations seems to have gone down in the last several months. I cannot point to exactly why this is, but it is a phenomenon that is hard to deny at this time. This has been the source of a tremendous amount frustration for many, including myself. My natural inclination is to try and give the benefit of the doubt to people who are making nominations and to generally try to rule positive if a nomination is ambiguous (only when it is a grey area, not when it clearly goes against guidelines). Therefore, the rise in nominations for things like "Tree" in someone's backyard with the description "we need more stops" has been vexing as that's a low-to-no effort nomination that just wastes time. Then it occurred to me: to some degree these easy rejections make our lives easier, at least from an upgrade perspective. **** out upgrades can be tedious work, especially if the nominations are ambiguous (the ones that on one day would be rejected but on another would be accepted). These low-effort nominations provide an easy, no-thought-needed progression point towards **** for your upgrades. Thinking about it from that perspective can help to diminish the fatigue and frustration that these can cause. My hope is that this way of thinking about it can help to ameliorate some of the burnout that some of you feel.

Have a nice rest of your day!

Comments

  • Hosette-INGHosette-ING Posts: 3,469 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @PDSchroeder-PGO That reframing can work if you are primarily reviewing to get upgrades. That's not the case for all of us.

    At my current rate of submitting things I have about three years worth of upgrades banked. Badges don't motivate me since I got onyx Recon a couple of years ago. I review a lot (over 2000 in the last month) because I explore the virtual exploration/tourism aspect of it, especially right now when my traveling has been dramatically curtailed. I like discovering cool and interesting things via Wayfarer, and when I'm reviewing I sometimes spend several minutes going for a street view "walk" through an area and exploring.

    The flood of pure and utter coal is just depressing, and it makes me less interested in reviewing. It also makes me sad that the "tree/need a stop here" stuff is slowing down legitimate wayspots by sucking up so much reviewer capacity.

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

    Uncertain as to why the quality has gone down recently? It seems pretty much aligned to the increase in nominations available to pogo players. Which seems to be reflected in the nominations themselves and their supporting info. ("There isn't a stop nearby and we need one").

  • MelodyS88Chi-PGOMelodyS88Chi-PGO Posts: 627 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I don't think upgrades are difficult to get at all. I only started reviewing in mid-October and I am sitting on 77 upgrades currently.


    I would rather it be more difficult to earn upgrades if it meant not having a review queue that is 90% junk on a typical day. Of the 10% that is not coal, 9% of it is excruciatingly boring such as dozens of identical looking sports fields adjacent to other identical looking fields in parks. By the time I get to soccer field #10 in a single park, I lose my motivation to review for the day despite it potentially being an easy agreement with approval.

  • MelodyS88Chi-PGOMelodyS88Chi-PGO Posts: 627 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That is exactly why coupled with many people in non Wayfarer Pokemon Go groups on Reddit and Discord actively encouraging people to just nominate stuff in their yard to get home Pokéstops and telling them to keep re-nominating if it gets declined until it goes through.

  • PDSchroeder-PGOPDSchroeder-PGO Posts: 38 ✭✭

    You're not wrong. I personally enjoy more of the exploring and nominating part of this process, so upgrades are more useful for me since there are always more items to see/nominate. The review process is more of a means to an end for me, not a process that I do for purely my own enjoyment. I can see where it wouldn't be as useful if the process itself is where the enjoyment is derived.

  • PDSchroeder-PGOPDSchroeder-PGO Posts: 38 ✭✭

    I think that this is probably an oversimplification. Yes, I believe that discords and Reddit groups will tell them to re-nominate items, but usually not items so blatant as something in the backyard. I can see where they are coming from though. As a whole, the Niantic Wayfarer voting body can be inconsistent. An item that would be accepted on one day would be rejected on another if there's any grey area. I have personally made nominations that fit into the guidelines, but were rejected for "other rejection criteria". In those cases, you typically re-nominate once, and it will go through.

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