Are you seeing more or less Coal lately?
PkmnTrainerJ-ING
Posts: 5,138 Ambassador
Niantic mentioned that they would start to take action on Coal and posted this in February.
We are starting conversations internally on how we are going to help clean coal from the backlog of nominations. I don't have specific details I can share yet, but the approach is to look at what can we reliably scrub out automatically first, and longer term, tackle the more complex and sensitive decisions that are harder to automate (like fake nominations or hate speech, which can be very subtle and nuanced).
So, in general are you seeing more or less Coal, or about the same?
If you saw another topic, that’s on me. Messed up the options.
Are you seeing more or less Coal lately? 34 votes
I am seeing a lot less Coal
2%
1 vote
I am seeing a little less Coal
23%
8 votes
I am seeing about the same amount of Coal
44%
15 votes
I am seeing a lot more Coal
17%
6 votes
I am seeing a little more Coal
11%
4 votes
Comments
I thought I’d ask as I’ve had a particularly coal-filled review session.
Power stations, random street signs, people’s back gardens. Very few good nominations in this review session for me.
I put that on my thread to be deleted and just after that had a War Memorial and a really good Informational/Memorial Plaque so maybe I summoned some decent things.
This is a direct quote from Google AI classes: "hate speech, which can be very subtle and nuanced". IOW, Google specifically markets their Artificial Intelligence on that.
However, if it's trying to weed out coal, it still needs some tweaking. We could be part of the testing - the AI read nominations, kicks out what it thinks is coal - and those results are tested/verified by throwing them to us. If we all also give 1*, we've verified the AI. (This testing would require hundreds of thousands of examples.)
The most extreme garbage - someone’s cat, a tree in the backyard, a picture of a hairy leg - seems to be much less common these days than it was, say, a year ago. I’m still reviewing things that in no way meet criteria (a lumber mill, a military recruitment office, the town water works), but the worst of it feels like it’s been shaved off.
a lot more - all those public bridleways and public footpaths mostly here.
While I haven't quantified it, I estimate a little more or about the same. Definitely not "a lot less." I am not reviewing in my home cell right now, but it's at least the same amount of coal or more as when I was reviewing in my home cell before my winter hiatus. Lots of PRP (especially from one city, where it seems like one or two players walked around their subdivision one day and used all 40 of their nominations on every lawn ornament they could see). Repeated parking lot pergolas. The red cement sphere in front of Target saying "most Targets have a red ball as a PokeStop but for some reason not this one." 🙄 See also my thread on street sign spam in La Quinta.
I had hoped that the pre-submission test would weed out the easy opportunistic folks, and those who didn't know any better. Either the backlog of submissions is years deep... Or I was wrong.
i wouldn’t classify bridleway etc as coal. They may be in eligible but they usually exist and you can see why. I count things such as pictures of burgers, flowerpot or the bend in the road as coal.
The pre-submission test can be retaken every 15 minutes with unlimited attempts. It’s basically that Cheeto/Wotsit in the door that’s about to be rammed down meme.
The beginning of reviewing process (OPR days) there was lots of Coal (empty soda bottles, selfies, people's pets). It eventually slowed down. A couple of years later when PoGo players started submitting more Coal appeared. However, like in the OPR days, it's eventually slowed down.
Same
My vote is largely based on new level-up submitters: I've seen a lot of previously-generic-businesses, like tire stores and brake repair shops, submitted due to inexperience and lack of clarity from Niantic about what makes a "great" place to socialize vs. a place where socialization may occur as a side effect of waiting in a line to pay for stuff.
As this was about Coal I’ve seen two rather bad ones on social media this weekend.
it is summer; clearly people do go outside more and submit stuff. sometimes that is just stuff.
I think the below would have to be both the most outrageous... and funniest... nomination I've come across since I started reviewing...
And... in case you were wondering.... of _course_ I marked it ineligible.
Still, it had me quietly chuckling to myself for about half an hour afterwards.
They didn't have to bring caninekin into it, but here we are.
I'm seeing a bit less coal.
To be a wayspot, the POI needs to meet one of three eligibility criteria: https://wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/new/criteria/eligibility
Second, it needs to meet acceptance criteria: https://wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/new/criteria/acceptance
Third and last, it can't meet any rejection criteria: https://wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/new/criteria/rejection
Bathrooms are NOT good wayspots; nor are dog waste stations. Wayspots need to be a destination. No one said, "Let's meet at the smelly trash can!" I would give it "Other Rejection Reason", which translate to "Does not meet any of the three eligibility criteria: explore, socalize, exercise."
Sometimes invalid places end up in the system, but that does not make them valid.
Please share your ball field and pavilion. We are glad to give tips for resubmitting them to pass.
These are not my nominations, sorry if I led you to misunderstand. They are just screen shots of others threads on social media.
I'm seeing less uneducated coal, and more coal disguised as regular nominations. Behold, this is "beautiful gazebo in park ..."
Just realised the coal nominations are getting swamped out by platinum jubilee wayspots 😂
Coal is subjective. One man's trash is another man's treasure.
I think there is some work being done behind the scenes (i.e. spoofers who upload garbage are actioned on much quicker when their photos are being reported), but for the most part there are definitely still some people who should have never passed the test.
Agreed, I've been seeing a lot of lying. The little roof over the baseball field dugout is not a "pavilion." The red cement sphere outside of Target is not "a unique sculpture painted by a local artist." The generic framed photograph of the founder on the interior wall of a chain restaurant is not a "mural." Your backyard swing set is not "a public playground enjoyed by all." The drainage pond between the apartment complex and the road is not a "nature preserve."
From a legal standpoint, here's a 'head-scratcher' one; a side fence/wall of a PRF where the side fence/wall abuts a roadway within a senior citizens' 'gated' community:
The legal standpoint first: In Australia and as per the Torrens Title Act of Parliament property boundary fences are jointly owned by the land owners on each side of the property. That is, both land owners own the 'entirety' of the fence together, irrespective of what side of the fence is theirs and irrespective of it's construction. As such, as a land owner you don't legally get to make any alterations (including painting said fence) without the property owner on the other side of it giving their permission. (Even though the law tends to turn a blind eye to it when it's only something like painting.)
The problem arises when the property 'owner' on one side of the fence is not a private citizen / body corporate / strata title owner / or similar. Such as the property on one side is, for instance, a public road / local park / or similar. In such cases if damage occurs to the fence then it can be a nightmare to get the 'neighbour' to cough-up their half of the costs for repairs. Personally, I thank God that's the sort of thing that can be left up to (property) insurance companies to sort out.
Irrespective of all that, the fence here is in what appears to be a strata title property - a senior citizens' retirement complex. Even though each... dwelling... within that complex might be a private 'single family' residence is each bungalow/unit/house/cabin actually seen as a PRF by Niantic... or not?
And, if the artwork was 'commissioned' by the Strata Title owner as the overall property owner - as it would need to be for such permission to be given just for the artist to paint the mural - would your decision as the reviewer have any bearing on whether or not what appears on the other side of the brick fence to maybe be a PRF within that strata titled property?
My decision - maybe the wrong one - was to make it 1* due to PRF. But I'd have added Inappropriate Location if I could have, due to it being a quiet (gated) senior citizens' retirement village. There is no way I can think of where the strata title owner, let alone the residents themselves, would be happy to have Trainers/Agents tromping through their little village.
What are your opinions, Wayfarers? I may have wrongly erred on the side of caution, but will bow to your collective wisdom and choose differently in future if you collectively feel strongly the other way.
Good puzzle …….disclaimer U.K. player so no knowledge of Australia laws.
Dont assume that the senior residents are not playing Niantic games , they may even have submitted it. It might be their couch stop 🤔
That it is gated is not an issue as it is not on the wall of any of the individual properties.
what is very hard to tell from the photos is whether the wall is part of any building or free standing. Plus given all you said about the law I would probably err on side of PRP because of status of wall.
Unless there was evidence that it did belong to the community I think the wall is PRP
I would have given it 1*, probably with reason Location Sensitive. I'd figure everyone else would give PRP, and think the nominator should get both for feedback.
Sorry but seriously what is so different about this gated community that makes it location sensitive? Other gated communities can have rules about who can buy or stay. Provided it’s not a nursing home or hospice it would be fine in terms of sensitivity.
In the U.K. the limit is usually at least 55. A 70 year old was born in 1952 and were the age range of those who were at Woodstock. They play music loudly. And goodness knows what they get up to in the gardens. 🤪🤔
Yes in some places things are more sedate, but I suspect that is more about social status than age.
We have someone who lives in one of these sites and races around in their mobility scooter playing Pokémon Go.