Spot the Fake: Are you better than Wayfarer support?
Hosette-ING
Posts: 3,470 ✭✭✭✭✭
I've written in the past about an extensive string of fakes in the area around Roseville California. Someone has been taking multiple pictures of the exact same object and submitting them in parks all over the area. They were particularly fond of little free libraries, exercise stations, and a chess board table. Last night I spotted this pair.
These seem to be the exact same box including the paint, the bolt pattern under the box, and the exact same dark spot on the supporting post. The dark spot is more visible in the one with better lighting but it's there on both. They also seem to be in exactly the same location, although taken from different angles-- the sidewalk in the background is the same, the lawn is nearly the same, the two leafless trees are the same, the evergreens in the background on the left are the same, and the distant trees on the right are the same. Even the fence in the background on the left side is the same although it's not as visible in the image on the right.
The legitimate one is Breen Park Little Free Library on the left. Satellite view shows it on a lawn with all of the other information lining up, and with something visible that looks like a LFL, and street view shows the library exactly where you would expect it.
The photo on the right is Doulton's Free Library Exchange. Satellite view shows it on a landscape without a lawn underneath it and with a very different pattern of trees in the background, and street view shows houses in the background rather than trees... and unsurprisingly no LFL. The only thing that's slightly credible is that they both have sidewalks in the background. I will grant you that the street view date for this is April 2015 but satellite view is generally much more recent and it's unlikely that those houses were removed and turned into an extended park that is somehow identical to Breen Park.
Pretend for a moment that you're Niantic support and you got a report for the one on the right, with additional information about the photo mismatches and with a link to the legitimate one showing the same object. Would you conclude that the one on the right is a fake?
Here's what Niantic's support had to say about it:
Hello Explorer,
Thanks for reaching out.
We took another look at the Wayspot(s) in question and decided that it does not meet our criteria for removal at this time.
Thanks for helping us maintain the quality of the Wayspots.
Best Regards,
If "this is an obvious fake" does not meet Niantic's criteria then what does?
Comments
Unrelated: Can anyone tell me what the horse book on the second shelf of the real LFL is?
Pony on the Porch from the Animal Ark series.
Pony on the Porch, Animal Ark #2
The lfl on the right is clearly the same lfl photographed at a different angle. Should have been an easy removal
Yeah, it should have been an easy removal. I dropped it into invalid wayspot appeals and we'll see what happens.
I’ve had pretty much they exact same issue with Niantic support. They’re completely incompetent.
Spotting fakes is certainly not their strong point.
I've never been able to get obvious fakes (in this case I mean there is a photosphere right at the location that shows the wayspot doesn't exist) removed by in-game reporting. I think they auto-reject 99% of the reports. I've always had to escalate in the Help chat. Usually that works, but last time I submitted a cluster to the Help chat, they only removed one, so I've had to submit them again.
So, in the end (assuming they are actually removed this time) I will have reported at least one of them 4 times total. 1. During review, 2. In app, 3. Help chat round 1, 4 Help chat round 2. This spans roughly 4 months of trying to get them removed. I definitely would have given up if they weren't in my main playing location. I actually did give up at one point, which is part of why it's taken so long.
And now I'll need 5. Help Chat Round 3 as they said I should send geotagged photos then closed the ticket immediately even though I did send geotagged photos. Step 6. should probably be a forum post, I guess.
@NianticGiffard Could the Help Chat be changed to not immediately close tickets and allow people a chance to respond instead? It's a bit annoying to have to open a new ticket, upload the same photos, and wait another week. It's 7 fakes I've been trying to get removed for 4 months now.
Step 5 result: failure. Help chat rejected again for "not meeting removal criteria". They are 7 fakes with geotagged photos of them not existing and photospheres of them never existing. I guess I'll just leave them in the game. Maybe try again next year after they've got a new batch of Help Chat interns that won't close the reports without looking.
Well ive send easily obvious reports of fake stuff in the past and all of them got insta answered back telling me that i was wrong and it was legit...so i was like, are you serious? hence i stopped caring and dont report anymore
We have reviewed the report and decided to retire the Wayspot.
@NianticGiffard which Wayspot? The one @Hosette-ING reported? Not the 7 @JillJilyJabadoo-PGO reported?
I'll guess that Niantic only reads the top comment, so it's Hosette's only.
@NianticGiffard Is there a way that we can help you improve the quality of your wayspot database and Niantic support? I live a ferry ride away from the San Francisco HQ and I would be happy to put together a presentation on the techniques that I have used for identifying fakes. I'm pretty sure I just found another fake in that park, and I'm suspicious of two others.
If you're at all interested in making this happen I can provide you with a list of employees who will vouch for me as a responsible adult and I've been under Niantic NDA before.
I expect they mean the OPs. My reports were made via the chat support, not in this forum. They were still there last check and I'll try again later in the summer when I've regained my optimism.
You might as well start a new thread and post your fakes and your entire reporting experience from ground zero. The process has failed, try the direct method.
I don't want to post them on the public forum for doxing reasons due to the location, if the submitter gets upset about their removal. I'm more comfortable waiting a bit and trying the help chat. I just posted to try to bring the Wayfarer senior staffs' attention to issues with the help chat.