Why hasn't the "2 mile pin-move" exploit while reviewing been fixed?
AisforAndis-ING
Posts: 1,042 Ambassador
A long running exploit in Wayfarer allows reviewers to abuse the system and move pins for multiple miles while reviewing. The exploit occurs when multiple reviewers (or a reviewer with multiple accounts, or both) collude to move a POI during review to a fake, incorrect location. Unlike move edits which are restricted to 20 meters, the distance for this type of move is approximately TWO MILES.
This leads to abusive wayspots like this, a playground set that was moved miles away from it's submitted location to be on top of an abusers house.
This phenomenon has been well documented in cases such as the St. Cloud abuse ring here, here, here, here, and in multiple other cases. A bug report for this exploit can be found here.
This issue is further compounded by the fact that as few as five users are able to collude to successfully move wayspots to incorrect locations while reviewing as well as rural communities can easily exploit the wayfarer algorithm to get ineligble wayspots accepted.
Given the sheer number of times that Niantic has had to clean up abuse cases like this, and the fact that it has been widely reported on the forum, there is no reason this exploit should be ongoing? Why are reviewers still able to move pins for multiple miles while reviewing? There is NEVER a reason a pin should be moved that far.
Comments
The on top of house wayspots can also be the result of bugs in wayspot submitting, there were multiple moments when from a distance submission resulted in rubber banding to current position (had to pull back several as well then).
It is very much intentional. The same abuser(s) continue to move wayspots to that same house (as well as several other locations), generally replacing other abusive POIs within days of Niantic removing them. They have done it many many times. Again, it is very much intentional.
Just pointing out here that not all wayspot location errors are like that, but yes abuse is happening.
Just pointing out that I can't think of a genuine reason (bug or otherwise) to move a pin as far as a mile or more.
I've had one instance where someone tried submitting a statue in their garden and I knew the actual real location of the statue was several miles away, but I just reported that as abuse and rejected it as I don't expect other reviewers to necessarily know where it was given that it wasn't in the immediate vicinity of the submitted location.
I feel like most reviewers would only look within a few hundred metres at most if they couldn't immediately find something.
In a case where a reviewer does happen to know that a POI is misplaced by several miles, and does happen to know the correct location, the duplicate check does not extend nearly that far anyways, so it would be impossible to check if the POI is even in the system.
Even in a case where someone makes a mistake and a highly misplaced location is an error instead of abuse, the submission should just be marked as location mismatched. There is never a reason for a POI to be moved remotely close to as much as they can currently be moved.
The limit should be 100m. If a location pin is off by more than that it's completely reasonable to reject based on incorrect location.
If pins are incorrect due to a bug, that can and should be handled separately. Other than that no good comes of allowing and accepting nominations which are more than 100m from the selected location.
Never heard of this before but doesn't surprise me.
Just found out about this kind of abuse while listening to the Wayspotters Podcast. Oh man, this seems like it should be rather easy to fix. 100m maximum sounds about right, everything else is heavily misplaced and a rejection (abuse)
Thanks for listening to the podcast! 😁
Thanks for listening to the show. Means alot <3
I am thinking that 50m is the best, is it too strict?
I think the move distance should be half the distance we are able to see duplicates in review. If the true location is farther than that then it should be rejected as misplaced. Most of the legitimate pin moves I make during review are less than a city block in distance but occasionally I come across someone who is trying to game the system more severely so it would be nice to have some leeway.
The furthest I think I have ever moved a pin is probably the length of a sports field, more specifically when people put the pin for a baseball field in the outfield, or away from a soccer/football field sign if one is available. This is generally the longest type of move I see as reasonable, and I could see these type of moves sometimes approaching around 100 meters anything more than that is probably excessive and worthy of Location Mismatch.
Just as another example of this happening, several portals were just discovered at Disney World that were moved about a mile away during review from Disney Springs onto a nearby Disney Resort hotel:
Buzz Lightyear at Once Upon A Toy: https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=28.385863,-81.537045&z=17&pll=28.385863,-81.537045
Actual location: https://goo.gl/maps/394Fs4xTMJwJyGD78
Gideon's Bakehouse: https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=28.386156,-81.537103&z=17&pll=28.386156,-81.537103
Actual location: https://goo.gl/maps/SXRTJLkX2nG4govN9
(This one probably should have been denied for "Face" but abusers gonna abuse I guess)
Port Orleans Riverside Footbridge: https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=28.38566,-81.536275&z=17&pll=28.38566,-81.536275
Not sure were the correct location for this one is yet but there clearly isn't a river or a footbridge in the middle of the building where this portal is.
THIS TYPE OF ABUSE NEEDS TO BE STOPPED