The weird rise of inappropriate locations
SiIverLyra-PGO
Posts: 948 ✭✭✭✭✭
For me, January 2023 saw an odd rise in the use of the "Location Inappropriate" rejection reason in my rejected nominations. On the surface, nothing's changed - the nomination subjects are all very vanilla, all and all were made in my regular play areas, where such nomination subjects are commonly submitted and accepted. Yet "Location Inappropriate" rejections keep popping up again and again.
I'm no stranger to weird rejection patterns so I didn't think much of it... until other people in the Wayfarer Discussion Discord server have started reporting the same thing.
I do think there's foul play involved here. Whether it's something as simple as a group of malicious serial rejecters, or something more complicated such as a botting network, I absolutely think there's an unnatural pattern that requires investigation from Niantic.
I'll list my own examples (plus an example that was sent to me), but I invite anyone who thinks they've been impacted by the same phenomenon to comment here with their own rejections.
1 - (was since accepted upon resubmission)
2 -
3 - (perhaps the only one where I can see "inappropriate" as being vaguely relevant)
4 -
5 - (AKA the resubmission attempt)
6 -
Then there are some of the examples shared with me by the Finnish community (which really raised my suspicion considering the distance between Finland and Israel):
1 -
2 -
3 -
Obligatory tagging of Niantic employees to ensure it gets seen - @NianticAaron @NianticLC @NianticOren @NianticOtoStar @NianThib @NianticTintino-ING
Comments
I recently moved to the same country as SilverLyra and I started experiencing the same unjust rejections for "inappropriate location".
It happens with playgrounds, trail markers, and murals in public spaces. I have evidence that all truly exist and even show on street view. I tried with and without an upgrade but the result is the same.
It has become incredibly demoralizing. Instead of submitting new POIs I only use my nominations to resubmit things that were wrongfully rejected.
I would really appreciate it if Niantic can investigate and look into these.
I'm new to the party, just got to 37 in Pokémon Go a couple of weeks ago, and one of my first submissions got rejected for being location inappropriate even though it's visible on google street view and a similar one about 30 meters away already got accepted.
It's a utility box on the sidewalk of a main street close to a residential area.
I wnt in on the party!
An indoor playground area at a sportsarena.
A picnic area
A childrens bike track
What's inapropriate about that?
Hello@FantaX1911-PGO
Those selecting inappropriate may well think that inappropriate means not the right place, which is a lot like mismatched. So I think overall that they couldn’t verify it was at that place.
I'm also affected. I have more examples, but this is the latest one. As you can see all of the rejection reasons are not even possibly usable here. To ease reviewing I even used a geotagged supporting picture.
My situation with Location Inappropiate might be different though, as the translation of that rejection reasons to German is faulty and Niantic hasn't moved a finger to fix it yet. See the situation described here: https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/30553/rejection-reasons-location-sensitive-and-location-inappropiate-are-almost-identical-in-german#latest
The reason Location inappropiate often seems to gte misinterpreted as "not suitable for Pokemon GO/Ingress". It should be rewokred or removed, like Generic Business in the past.
Translation of my text so no one tries to argue that my nomination is bad like some forum members love to do:
Klaus Tschira Louge
In memory of Klaus Tschira, co-founder of SAP. Through his foundation, the Capitol, as the only arts and cultural centre not supported or sustained by the city, was saved and became profitable enough again to be preserved. In gratitude, the Capitol dedicated the wheelchair-accessible box to Klaus Tschira and his foundation after his **** in 2015.
Location verifiable via geodata in additional photo. The plaque is located in the inclusive box, directly at the standing area. It commemorates an important supporter of the society, and is thus worth discovering and culturally significant. Here you can find information about the Capitol and its relationship to the foundation: https://www.wikiwand.com/de/Capitol_(Mannheim) https://www.capitol-mannheim.de/partner-und-sponsoren Here you can find information about the foundation itself: https://www.wikiwand.com/de/Klaus-Tschira-Stiftung
Bumping for visibility and adding two recent "location inappropriate" rejections from today.
@NianticAaron @NianticOren @NianticTintino-ING and any ambassador reading this- Please help raise this issue and investigate why are normal nominations getting rejected for being inappropriate.
Yes, the answer to most things is: Niantic miscommunication - lack of documentation / instructions / explanations.
The main Rejection Reason to look at is "Other Rejection Criteria". That's what most reviewers said. It means they don't see how it fits any criteria. Niantic prefers this code, over creating (or rewording) a rejection reason: "Meets no criteria". It's been this way for years.
My experience with this strange location inappropriate rejection reason. Never had that before. Location of submission is above for those to view.
@VIPZMCSWAG-PGO That is very strange.
Can I ask if that was over the last 2 days?
Was the time between submission and rejection quite quick?
When was the upgrade applied?
Another reason to rewrite rejection reasons in Germany. @kawin240-ING @Luca5115-PGO can this actually be raised to Wayfarer team?
It's part of my list. In the mean time I have already collected feedback that this rejection reasons causes many problems throughout Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Croatia, France)
The other German ambassador is @LukeAllStars-ING , you tagged the wrong person 😅
If anyone has more examples outside of the mentioned regions or has more region groups that I could join, please share. I have almost all social media apps so I can join everywhere
I'm in the UK, and got an "inappropriate location" for a directional sign that was on the public pathway. Wouldn't be surprised if that's a language barrier and people are mixing "inappropriate" with "inaccurate", even though if it's visible from the google maps. Been getting quite a few rejections recently tbh, with upgrades as well, for reasons that I haven't seen before - permanent murals being viewed as temporary or seasonal, directional signs for being inappropriate, crazy amount of low quality photos.
@Shepeteksht-PGO
Thanks for this.
I agree inappropriate can simply mean not correct.
When you say recently do you mean last couple of days?
I’m curious to find out more to see if it’s coincidence or if there something else happening.
Upgrade was applied on the 24th February and nomination was rejected on the same day. Was submitted on the 2nd January and put on hold until I used an upgrade.
I've came back to nominating since the start of February (learned my lessons, did more research into level 17 level 14 etc.), but more of these rejections starting popping out during the last 2 weeks. Don't get me wrong, it just might be I'm unlucky and getting more reviewers who are extremely strict or playing it safe when it comes to their wayspot agreements.
Tbh, I would love there to be an option that when you reject something it should be "Required" to explain why. Like it is when you choose an abuse nomination.
Thanks @VIPZMCSWAG-PGO and @Shepeteksht-PGO
I’ll squirrel that info away
I had a very quick reject on a religious building (they don’t like to call it a church) so it’s a bit puzzling.
****, I've got a brand new one.
(Although this one in particular has also got a couple other reasons that show up when refreshing the page, which I'll include for transparency's sake:)
TIL that the forum censors bell noises.
I have to say I'm very disappointed with Niantic straight up ignoring this.
We collected evidence, tagged you multiple times, and we don't even deserve a reply?
@NianticTintino-ING @NianticOren @NianThib @NianticLC @NianticOtoStar @ambassadors
orientation? must be kidding. I have many more.
natural feature?
Hey everyone! This report has been escalated for review. We will get back once the reported nominations are reviewed. Thanks!
I've also had a few places flagged inappropriate for the location when I know better, there's my nomination that's the only McDonald's in town, and it's very rural, but Google maps shows that it's a McDonald's and they've flagged it as a private residence or farm.
I did take the cover photo at night but the sign is so bright that there's no mistake that it's a McDonald's.
Another is a fueling station that's part of the Food City grocery store, it's adjacent, just on the other side of it, and for some reason that location is inappropriate? Also the only Pizza Hut got rejected when it's an actual sit-down with a buffet, rare Red Roof Pizza Hut and that's inappropriate?
Another is a diner that you have to go up to and order your food or pick it up, but it's a small trailer that's stationary, it cannot move and I'm fairly sure it's listed on Google but they've rejected it as temporary. I can maybe see if a bot was looking over it, or just someone unobservant, made a mistake, but I spend a lot of time on each review that I do, at least a few minutes to really judge other's nominations and make sure I'm not rejecting something incorrectly, even as far as calling businesses and asking them if they're located in the places some people say they are if I'm really not sure. I know people do this for free, save for the upgrades they may get for their own nominations, but based on the context of the area I live and play in, I'm finding a heavy bias on the results as far as rejection criteria goes.
I've had to review things as far out as California and even foreign islands and things and there's no way I'd have contextual knowledge to do so, so I know that people who've never been to my area are reviewing this rural area when they'd have no idea what pedestrian access is in a place like this.
How do places in other countries, with villages that have no sidewalks at all get any kind of decent game play? I have to travel at least 30 minutes (by vehicle) in any given direction just to get to a place that has a Pokemon Go gym or at least a couple stops together to make it worth the travel to play the game. Shouldn't there be some kind of consideration when there are no portals/stops in an area for miles around? I'm sure most of these questions should be saved for a different discussion and I apologize for that, but these issues seem to run together once I start on the matter.
You are right that this should go in a different post. You would need a really special McDonalds and an award winning write up to convince me yours was unique and that it could be acceptable. I took a look around your area and found some better things to submit. What about the Presbyterian church at the intersection, the theater guild by the tractor store (actually you could get 3-4 here if there are cool things inside), there is room for more at the church of Christ if there is any stained glass or religious art inside, same with the Baptist church and looks like there is a basketball half court there, looks like there might be a hair salon down the road (great place to socialize), what's that big brick building by the post office? looks historic, and the primitive Baptist church. Heading a different way, it looks like there are a few USGS survey markers in town. Use this site to find the location and open their datasheet to read the description of how to find them https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=190385f9aadb4cf1b0dd8759893032db. There is one on the bridge where the rail line crosses lovers gap road, one in the retaining wall by dairy queen, and a third in the rock wall by happy mart but this one really isn't accessible. There is some kind of rail thing across the river there that could be historic or iconic infrastructure. I don't suppose there are any trails in the area? Also considering the area this might be one of the few cases where there are historic cemeteries not used for burials any more which are interesting places to visit. This should give you a good start.
I've had a whole bunch rejected for all kinds of weird, inaccurate reasons too. And I always make sure to take really good pedestrian photos and provide excellent background information in anticipation of any questions reviewers have. I'm fairly certain some people just don't read them and they just enjoy malicious rejection. It's very frustrating and makes me want to stop submitting and reviewing, given how time consuming it is.
@NianticLC Thanks for looking at the nominations on this thread.
Can I ask whether you will review the rejection reasons to see whether they are appropriate or not or will you review and accept these nominations if you deem that they should have been accepted.
They never do.
The only instance they might overturn a decision is when the decision was made by Niantic themselves (such as with appeals).
@NianticLC Do you have any updates for us maybe?
I just had another trail marker that is clearly visible on street view rejected for being inappropriate.
Got a fresh one.
@NianticLC @NianticTintino @NianThib
Curious to hear if there are any updates on the investigation. Thanks.