You may be right on some of these accepted nominations. Some are baffling, like the "Nianshit" example above. But some of the things shown in this topic are not examples of abuse necessarily. I think the recent Wayfarer Challenges have pushed the boundaries of many reviewers towards accepting things that we all rejected before. This is a natural development.
People have shifted their boundaries on graffiti, for example (very prevalent in Brazil). We have all seen more of these being accepted nearby since and it is logical that people conclude that they are acceptable. Are they great places to explore, really? What amount of effort must have gone into it in order to qualify? These things are highly subjective. I have also seen Niantic reviewers accept things I never would have accepted a few months ago. And things that were previously not acceptable were now featured on the front page of Wayfarer. So I adapted and have submitted one of those lower quality graffiti things too. And it got accepted. Is that abuse on my part? I do not view it as such. It is just sliding expectations based on what people see around them.
Ever since the Wayfarer challenge, I think people have shifted their opinions and many may have done this in good faith. If people see things being accepted around them en masse, can we really blame them for trying to submit lower quality things? And for voting them in?
I think it is not right to call all these people abusers and treat them as such. The Wayfarer team has held a great Wayfarer Challenge, but they also should realize that doing that has shifted opinions under Wayfarers. I have interpreted this as intentional on the Wayfarer team's part. I think they want to allow a little bit more than before. And there will always be those in the population who are even looser in their interpretations. It is up to Niantic to step on the brake by communicating clearly what boundaries they expect us to hold. As long as they do not do that, they should expect things to keep sliding. Not because people abuse the system, but because people genuinely think certain things are allowed now.
Again, this certainly does not apply to the Nianshit-example. And also not to those electricity boxes that were written on by a permanent marker. But when does art become art? If Niantic is essentially silent on the matter, they should expect people to keep pushing the boundaries. Just provide a few clear examples and communicate via channels that all Wayfarer users see. In the meantime, it makes no sense to call people who go a little further than you abusers.
Geo-fence the Netherlands from Wayfarer reviews. Make all submissions go straight to Niantic. It'll take years to clear the queue, but that's what they get for rampant abuse.
To be fair, I could understand the purpose of mailboxes. These are getting rare in The Netherlands and are even hard to find these days. I had trouble in the past finding nearby mailboxes in my own town. According to the rules they still should be rejected, but I could understand a purpose in this particular example.
Because of those effing botters which go on for weeeks now loads of coal goes through the system here in germany where I live as well... And people start abusing it...
Niantic should have an easy game finding these since living people don't review 24/7/365...
Moving on to the city of Soest. For speed, I'm foregoing the titles and just note the coordinates, but categorized them. This is even without all PRP and otherwise invalid Wayspots:
@NianticAaron here's hoping the system can be improved to prevent these:
Municipal signage of gas lines (many with exact same Wayspot title "Rode/Blauwe aanwijs plaat"):
52.173048,5.26591
52.173639,5.267184
52.174254,5.268476
52.17253,5.269522
52.173688,5.267833
52.175466,5.271
Mailboxes
52.169108,5.281702
52.176435,5.283095
52.160938,5.289738
Car charging poles
52.170157,5.281108
52.175628,5.286213
52.172701,5.269619
52.17572,5.270377
52.168095,5.276268
52.172816,5.291232
52.16983,5.278781
52.168159,5.283862
52.166613,5.282576
52.165165,5.28142
52.164054,5.277819
52.165345,5.284288
52.169315,5.286978
52.177697,5.293672
52.17072,5.292578
52.167033,5.290338
Bonus:
52.173181,5.265182 Trash can
52.169177,5.282919 directional sign
52.167899,5.288558 standard bus stop
52.169681,5.287881 and 52.16879,5.289247 ..a tree.
52.169687,5.287204 North-Northeastwards: Mosaic Tile Road... (debatable if coal)
This statue actually belongs to this K12 school nearby:
Spar is one of the largest supermarket chains in the world, from Wikipedia "...as of 2021 consists of 13,623 stores in 48 countries". The very definition of a generic chain fo stores. Even the description makes no effort of trying to make it appear otherwise...
While it's nice to focus on the confirmed group in Netherlands, as others have said it's spread out way more than that. Pokémon Go players have seen that really anything gets accepted, so hundreds of players are now submitting coal on purpose. "It's too late anyway, Niantic's fault for not taking action." Like someone submitting a "roundabout monument" (street sign on the roundabout), taking from a car... Try to educate people on why store bought statues on PRP are not eligible are you get your head bitten off by several people...
While a select group of players is reporting all this coal and abuse, what's the point of reporting 20 Wayspots here when hundreds new ones appear every day?
Please put a hold on Wayspot nominations for all players and release a clear statement that this is due to large cases of confirmed abuse and the fact that current nominations and accepted Wayspots no longer meet the minimal quality requirements of Wayfarer. Say you'll start review the Wayspots that have gone live these last couple of months and will take action on players where necessary. This lets the abusers and those who accept it know they screwed up and will remove pressure from those trying to do good.
Letting niantic review would not be the ideal solution though. Niantic reviews very very slow, and even multiple reviewers at the Niantic team are not educated enough to be reviewing properly, they even accepted Aldi’s and such generic chain stores.
The Wayfarer Team simply doesn’t have the resources and people to do so even.
I fully agree with putting a holdon Wayspot nominations ASAP. Even today portals that clearly don't qualify are accepted and brought in to the game like this 'portal' that appeared this morning: Paardenwei : https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=51.487743,5.466728&z=17&pll=51.487743,5.466728 enough facts for Niantic to quickly contain the situation before it further develops into a situation where every tile , gnome in garden, car charging point and more coal enters the game.
Next I stongly advise to add an option in Ingress / Pokemon to report a portal as bogus/coal portal. It will be a more structural approach instead of us reporting it in this unstructured way on the Fora which must be an administrative nightmare for those that need to process this.
Unfortunately they are. The number of accepted coals already outnumbered how many Wayfarer team can handle now, especially when the staffs are off during weekends or public holidays.
@Xelanc-ING During reviews, I have not seen any nomination from the Netherlands in days now. Despite the fact that more and more coals are popping up, I think most are being held back to analyze and weed out the bots and exploiters. At least, I sincerely hope so..
I am not the only one requesting these qr bogus wayspots. In woensel there are also a few, not requested by me. We should do this cleanup all together and not in favor of res of enl but as a team to make the game a great exploration again.
Belgium is getting hit hard with these coal poi's as well. Markers for gas lines, random numbers on a street light, poi's in a garden, random street signs... Everything gets accepted now. I used to be some effort in trying to get them removed, but they just keep coming back.
Answers
We have removed this Wayspot and have taken necessary action against the submitters and reviewers.
You may be right on some of these accepted nominations. Some are baffling, like the "Nianshit" example above. But some of the things shown in this topic are not examples of abuse necessarily. I think the recent Wayfarer Challenges have pushed the boundaries of many reviewers towards accepting things that we all rejected before. This is a natural development.
People have shifted their boundaries on graffiti, for example (very prevalent in Brazil). We have all seen more of these being accepted nearby since and it is logical that people conclude that they are acceptable. Are they great places to explore, really? What amount of effort must have gone into it in order to qualify? These things are highly subjective. I have also seen Niantic reviewers accept things I never would have accepted a few months ago. And things that were previously not acceptable were now featured on the front page of Wayfarer. So I adapted and have submitted one of those lower quality graffiti things too. And it got accepted. Is that abuse on my part? I do not view it as such. It is just sliding expectations based on what people see around them.
Ever since the Wayfarer challenge, I think people have shifted their opinions and many may have done this in good faith. If people see things being accepted around them en masse, can we really blame them for trying to submit lower quality things? And for voting them in?
I think it is not right to call all these people abusers and treat them as such. The Wayfarer team has held a great Wayfarer Challenge, but they also should realize that doing that has shifted opinions under Wayfarers. I have interpreted this as intentional on the Wayfarer team's part. I think they want to allow a little bit more than before. And there will always be those in the population who are even looser in their interpretations. It is up to Niantic to step on the brake by communicating clearly what boundaries they expect us to hold. As long as they do not do that, they should expect things to keep sliding. Not because people abuse the system, but because people genuinely think certain things are allowed now.
Again, this certainly does not apply to the Nianshit-example. And also not to those electricity boxes that were written on by a permanent marker. But when does art become art? If Niantic is essentially silent on the matter, they should expect people to keep pushing the boundaries. Just provide a few clear examples and communicate via channels that all Wayfarer users see. In the meantime, it makes no sense to call people who go a little further than you abusers.
The only "news" I found about this was this website and my forum post being shared on discord / reddit
and that website only mentions its a exploit and if you send in coal you can lose your pokemon go account.
I do agree there needs to be more education from niantic side because there are currently two kinds of people sending in coal.
Clueless people who think if this streetlight is accepted I can also send in a streetlight .
And wayspot as shown in Den Bosch and Kampen what shows clearly a abuse pattern.
Geo-fence the Netherlands from Wayfarer reviews. Make all submissions go straight to Niantic. It'll take years to clear the queue, but that's what they get for rampant abuse.
...well, the situation is going even more out of control with that Nian#### Wayspot.
Very nice of you. Its not just the Netherlands, it also affects vast parts of germany, belgium and France.
"They" are a small group of people. The people in the affected Area are not responsible for the abuse of few.
More abuse from Kampen
52.3041920, 5.2644560
52.3025160, 5.2647540
52.2969600, 5.2420580
The reason I officially reported it was because it looked like it was located on private property and someone their shed based on google streetview.
If this isn't the case I'm sorry for this misunderstanding.
Why niantic deleted it I can't answer.
To be fair, I could understand the purpose of mailboxes. These are getting rare in The Netherlands and are even hard to find these days. I had trouble in the past finding nearby mailboxes in my own town. According to the rules they still should be rejected, but I could understand a purpose in this particular example.
All the others are hardcore coal, begone!
Because of those effing botters which go on for weeeks now loads of coal goes through the system here in germany where I live as well... And people start abusing it...
Niantic should have an easy game finding these since living people don't review 24/7/365...
52.2871320, 5.2502600
52.2912980, 5.2533370
52.2911900, 5.2547050
52.2941980, 5.2516260
52.2928340, 5.2470950
52.2927470, 5.2467210
52.2931430, 5.2449430
52.2957920, 5.2429230
52.2959220, 5.2425390
Duplicates
52.2919060, 5.2566040
52.2921330, 5.2567340
52.2945180, 5.2532270
52.2947910, 5.2533760
52.099686306698544, 5.0142082689176215
This is actually a legit portal with a nifty photo that makes it look way sillier that it actually is.
Moving on to the city of Soest. For speed, I'm foregoing the titles and just note the coordinates, but categorized them. This is even without all PRP and otherwise invalid Wayspots:
@NianticAaron here's hoping the system can be improved to prevent these:
Municipal signage of gas lines (many with exact same Wayspot title "Rode/Blauwe aanwijs plaat"):
52.173048,5.26591
52.173639,5.267184
52.174254,5.268476
52.17253,5.269522
52.173688,5.267833
52.175466,5.271
Mailboxes
52.169108,5.281702
52.176435,5.283095
52.160938,5.289738
Car charging poles
52.170157,5.281108
52.175628,5.286213
52.172701,5.269619
52.17572,5.270377
52.168095,5.276268
52.172816,5.291232
52.16983,5.278781
52.168159,5.283862
52.166613,5.282576
52.165165,5.28142
52.164054,5.277819
52.165345,5.284288
52.169315,5.286978
52.177697,5.293672
52.17072,5.292578
52.167033,5.290338
Bonus:
52.173181,5.265182 Trash can
52.169177,5.282919 directional sign
52.167899,5.288558 standard bus stop
52.169681,5.287881 and 52.16879,5.289247 ..a tree.
52.169687,5.287204 North-Northeastwards: Mosaic Tile Road... (debatable if coal)
This statue actually belongs to this K12 school nearby:
52.170843,5.289969 - "White Horses Statue"
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.1708086,5.2906928,3a,19.9y,313.72h,85.85t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sDzDCCtfH3nrnTDCIqfBRAQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
A few nominations are deleted in Den Bosch but not all.
Poi 1 :
51.6909320, 5.3336640
Poi 2 :
51.6861400, 5.3407550
Poi 3 :
51.6862450, 5.3394540
Duplicate poi
51.6876420, 5.3284460
51.6878860, 5.3286130
Poi 4 :
51.687609,5.330075
Poi 5 :
51.6871040, 5.3368100
This one needs a little explanation
The skatepark is legit only they placed all the graffiti in different cells to get more wayspots
If you check Google maps a lot of these pois are located wrongly and are mostly all in the same spot.
51.6871040, 5.3368100
51.6867740, 5.3374150
51.6869430, 5.3375580
51.6873710, 5.3373560
51.6874390, 5.3379090
51.6866180, 5.3377090
51.6868400, 5.3378650
51.6864340, 5.3379940
Poi 6 :
Duplicate
Poi 7 :
51.6880060, 5.3460210
Poi 8 :
51.6975970, 5.3468100
Poi 9 :
51.6995320, 5.3460310
Poi 10 :
51.7007470, 5.3494920
A spray in someone's bathroom, okay.
Niantic really wants to "map the world".
I took me an hour or two, but I have collected probably most of the QR code bogus wayspots in Eindhoven. 92 of them:
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.408374,5.481189
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.408858,5.481329
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.409938,5.481639
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.410483,5.481783
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.41101,5.481938
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.411571,5.482038
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.41227,5.482313
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.41364,5.483029
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.413973,5.48805
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.414208,5.483166
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.41481,5.482897
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.414855,5.488294
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.414991,5.483353
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.415754,5.492707
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.415836,5.491687
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.415847,5.483102
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.415924,5.496581
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.416008,5.488554
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.416045,5.49612
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.416346,5.498873
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.416438,5.48367
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.416455,5.483102
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.416525,5.500197
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.416656,5.495774
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.416789,5.497948
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.416855,5.502036
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.416969,5.483675
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.417044,5.501861
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.417316,5.489752
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.417336,5.496687
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.417571,5.48383
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.417592,5.483463
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.417932,5.496624
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.418,5.503737
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.418319,5.503906
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.418605,5.489943
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.418721,5.490924
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.418829,5.489033
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.419178,5.495871
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.419258,5.491835
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.419337,5.490693
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.419574,5.495911
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.419651,5.489334
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.419739,5.485612
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.41974,5.489656
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.419775,5.484494
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.419784,5.485254
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.419801,5.488882
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.419826,5.485984
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.419947,5.48649
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420127,5.489572
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420223,5.490976
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420272,5.487814
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420299,5.489323
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420303,5.484655
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420355,5.488975
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420359,5.504099
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.42038,5.488598
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420452,5.503667
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420453,5.488296
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420459,5.496562
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420659,5.496629
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420692,5.484709
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420735,5.487964
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420794,5.487121
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420881,5.487582
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.420886,5.485853
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.42097,5.486704
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.421033,5.489105
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.421049,5.488728
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.42107,5.497595
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.42126,5.484907
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.421476,5.502168
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.421625,5.498539
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.421716,5.502006
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.42177,5.487517
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.421801,5.484976
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.421858,5.498939
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.421999,5.489793
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.422056,5.501498
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.422213,5.499547
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.422248,5.489593
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.422262,5.488098
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.422315,5.488694
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.422403,5.500987
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.423024,5.487813
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.423581,5.488085
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.429306,5.486199
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.434028,5.482245
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.43433,5.48302
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.435116,5.483721
https://intel.ingress.com/?pll=51.437097,5.483104
Portal of a street name sign. Portal name "Wat een onzin-portal is dit joh" translated, "Man, what a bullsh*t portal is this".
https://intel.ingress.com/?ll=51.494696,5.396343&z=18&pll=51.494696,5.396343
Here is some coal i found these weeks:
Laadpaal Begoniastraat
https://intel.ingress.com/?ll=51.630427,5.424543&z=16&pll=51.630427,5.424543
These Tuinieren tegels don't appear on the place where the portal is and some portals are located in the grass.
Tuinieren tegel
https://intel.ingress.com/?ll=51.630672,5.424932&z=16&pll=51.630672,5.424932
This sign is on private property of someone's home
Ying Yang Chinese Sing
https://intel.ingress.com/?ll=51.631105,5.425076&z=18&pll=51.631105,5.425076
Tuinieren Tegel
https://intel.ingress.com/?ll=51.630195,5.425291&z=17&pll=51.630195,5.425291
Tuinieren tegel
https://intel.ingress.com/?ll=51.629822,5.426243&z=17&pll=51.629822,5.426243
Tuinieren tegel
https://intel.ingress.com/?ll=51.630193,5.416659&z=16&pll=51.630193,5.416659
This is an old shed, the portal is placed on private property
oude schuur
https://intel.ingress.com/?ll=51.628239,5.416608&z=17&pll=51.628239,5.416608
Tuinieren tegel
https://intel.ingress.com/?ll=51.623741,5.424489&z=16&pll=51.623741,5.424489
Can you provide a list of all the bogus QR wayspots?
Spar is one of the largest supermarket chains in the world, from Wikipedia "...as of 2021 consists of 13,623 stores in 48 countries". The very definition of a generic chain fo stores. Even the description makes no effort of trying to make it appear otherwise...
While it's nice to focus on the confirmed group in Netherlands, as others have said it's spread out way more than that. Pokémon Go players have seen that really anything gets accepted, so hundreds of players are now submitting coal on purpose. "It's too late anyway, Niantic's fault for not taking action." Like someone submitting a "roundabout monument" (street sign on the roundabout), taking from a car... Try to educate people on why store bought statues on PRP are not eligible are you get your head bitten off by several people...
While a select group of players is reporting all this coal and abuse, what's the point of reporting 20 Wayspots here when hundreds new ones appear every day?
Please put a hold on Wayspot nominations for all players and release a clear statement that this is due to large cases of confirmed abuse and the fact that current nominations and accepted Wayspots no longer meet the minimal quality requirements of Wayfarer. Say you'll start review the Wayspots that have gone live these last couple of months and will take action on players where necessary. This lets the abusers and those who accept it know they screwed up and will remove pressure from those trying to do good.
Letting niantic review would not be the ideal solution though. Niantic reviews very very slow, and even multiple reviewers at the Niantic team are not educated enough to be reviewing properly, they even accepted Aldi’s and such generic chain stores.
The Wayfarer Team simply doesn’t have the resources and people to do so even.
I fully agree with putting a hold on Wayspot nominations ASAP. Even today portals that clearly don't qualify are accepted and brought in to the game like this 'portal' that appeared this morning: Paardenwei : https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=51.487743,5.466728&z=17&pll=51.487743,5.466728 enough facts for Niantic to quickly contain the situation before it further develops into a situation where every tile , gnome in garden, car charging point and more coal enters the game.
Next I stongly advise to add an option in Ingress / Pokemon to report a portal as bogus/coal portal. It will be a more structural approach instead of us reporting it in this unstructured way on the Fora which must be an administrative nightmare for those that need to process this.
Unfortunately they are. The number of accepted coals already outnumbered how many Wayfarer team can handle now, especially when the staffs are off during weekends or public holidays.
@Xelanc-ING During reviews, I have not seen any nomination from the Netherlands in days now. Despite the fact that more and more coals are popping up, I think most are being held back to analyze and weed out the bots and exploiters. At least, I sincerely hope so..
I am not the only one requesting these qr bogus wayspots. In woensel there are also a few, not requested by me. We should do this cleanup all together and not in favor of res of enl but as a team to make the game a great exploration again.
52.0799670, 5.1365010
52.2904980, 5.2423200
52.2900210, 5.2394090
52.2900590, 5.2379270
52.2926800, 5.2398060
52.2929680, 5.2412730
52.2902150, 5.2458170
52.2884440, 5.2606240
52.2850100, 5.2736310
Belgium is getting hit hard with these coal poi's as well. Markers for gas lines, random numbers on a street light, poi's in a garden, random street signs... Everything gets accepted now. I used to be some effort in trying to get them removed, but they just keep coming back.
This week's coal highlight: A (bad) screenshot of the YouTube logo!
The user's name is on it, so this should be an easy case for Niantic to (at the very least) give a stern warning to the offender.