Very Old Portal Removed for not Fitting New Criteria? Honestly just looking for some consistency.
Totaler166-PGO
Posts: 8 ✭✭
The fire station on my end of town has been a portal for minimum 8-9 years. When GO came out it was the only pokestop within a few kilometers. Obviously, now, buildings like this are ineligible but I was under the impression Niantic had said that previous POI were sort of "grandfathered in". And this particular pin location is also located off to the side and not in the way of the driveway for the firetrucks so it's avoided obstructing emergency services.
But clearly some [I can't say what I want to so I'm going to say] person reported it and Niantic removed it. Firstly I'm looking to appeal this and can't find where to submit to have it overturned because in the case that it shouldn't have been removed, I'd clearly like the POI that I would have dropped this game on day 3 without, to come back.
And secondly I'd like some clarification from Niantic or really even just some kind of consistency in their decision making. As I reported an ineligible POI (it's just some kind of posterboard about the cemetery - nothing to do with history, or significant burials, or anything relevant) which was under a year old in a cemetery after Niantic rejected an appeal for a pioneer [inactive] cemetery but they determined it should stay?
So I'd like an answer as to why someone in my community can turn one church into 3 POI (reported as duplicates and rejected) and have the cemetery next door with an insignificant POI on top of new graves... but the POI that's been around for nearly a decade and not in the path of emergency services is removed...
I'm obviously annoyed that a POI got removed, but I'm also just wondering what the point of creating 200+ waypoints, and Ingress missions, and Pokémon routes, and reviewing and submitting hundreds of edits to correct errors is if the company I'm doing it for just flat out doesn't care about their own guidelines?
Comments
Could it be that the fire station asked for its removal? If the property owner/manager makes a request they will remove the wayspot.
Fire Stations, as far as I know, weren't among those permanently grandfathered in: they meet a very clear Removal criterion, that of Obstructs Emergency Services. Older Portals/Pokestops that don't meet approval criteria in the modern day remain in game because they don't meet removal criteria, not because they're somehow immune.
The removal criteria is a lot different from submission criteria. Its very hard to get most portals removed because of this but if it does match a removal criteria they tend to do it.
Those removal criteria are things like Schools, portals on a roundabout with no pedestrian access, emergency services blocking...
Even if yours wasnt blocking the fire station, Niantic tend to take action on those. The chances of getting that reversed are slim.
Some stops I know of got removed by Niantic but got resubmitted and got back in the game and Niantic wouldn't remove them the second time. So maybe trying that would be your best option....
Just adding that it was only removed in Pokémon GO, and apparently still stands in Ingress.
If it's only recently been removed, Ingress might not have synchronised with the database yet. Give it up to 48 hours.
Alternatively, if you don't mind sharing the location, we could double check the database to see if it has been removed.
Schools including K-12 were originally allowed to be portals. A couple of years after I started playing Ingress Niantic decided that anything on K-12 property was no longer acceptable and they aggressively removed all of the portals that they could identify on K-12 school property... and they responded very quickly to removal requests for others.
Niantic doesn't remove things because they don't meet the acceptance criteria any longer but they definitely have a set of removal criteria. No safe pedestrian access, K-12, private residential property, and obstructs emergency services are definitely on that list.
Wayspots that meet the removal criteria, as your fire station does, are not "grandfathered in". Any Wayspot that meets one of the removal criteria will be removed once reported and Niantic verifies the situation.
As others have said, there is a difference between removal criteria and rejection criteria. Things are considered ‘grandfathered in’ if they no longer meet the rejection criteria, but also do not meet the stricter removal criteria. Those that meet the removal criteria will get removed if reported.