FAKE Wayspots in Langlingen
WayfarerMSE-PGO
Posts: 1,568 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have been sent screenshots from a Facebook group pertaining to the German town of Langlingen. A user shared there that there are 3 types of nature trails in his Town.
1.) A Water educational trail
2.) A nature trail - which no longer exists!!!
3.) The Living archive (information boards for historical buildings)
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But there are 2 big problems!
Let's come to the smaller problem first
#1 NATURE TRAIL
The nature trail is made of laminated paper that was attached with staples. It doesn't look very permanent. Some boards are already missing and were probably replaced by self-made ones from the second point below.
Let's take a look.
Start: 52.562559,10.240507
End: 52.556256,10.275883
Just a few examples:
1.)
Title: Naturlehrpfad Langlingen 18
Location: 52.560848,10.254397
A laminated piece of paper.
2.)
Title: Naturlehrpfad Langlingen Hasel
Location: 52.557453,10.262982
Another laminated piece of paper.
3.)
Title: Naturlehrpfad Langlingen 14
Location: 52.561153,10.25103
Again just a laminated piece of paper which was attached with staples.
Just like the whole educational path. It's not permanent.
#2 FAKE TRAIL
Now to the real problem. The user shared with the group that he also laminated sheets of paper himself and attached them to boards in order to submit them as wayspots to generate more Pokestops and Gyms. And of course he removed them afterwards.
German Proof:
English Translation:
Here are just a few examples. I leave it to you to check the account and the Wayspots for the entire educational trail.
Example 1)
Title: GLP Der Kormoran
Location: 52.557051,10.292873
Example 2)
Title: GLP Infotafel Kreuzotter
Location: 52.563636,10.279761
Example 3)
Title: Gewässerlehrpfad
Location: 52.562756,10.284611
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And there are so many more. All just laminated notes. In the photo you can see them lying on his car seat, with the comment that it is material for further stops.
Would be nice if you take action against it, remove these wayspots on the nature trail and do something against this person.
Comments
You have to mention that the post is from a PokéMon Go "Spoofer" group. Maybe you can pass this on to the necessary people from Niantic. Spoofing and nominating fake Wayspots should both have consequences!
As I said, these pictures were only forwarded to me. Since I am not a member of this group myself, I was not aware of this either.
I have just recently taken lots of sphere photos in this village and reported dozens of fake wayspots. Once they all get denied, I will write a full report. The neighboring towns, namely Wienhausen and Bockelskamp also have Fake wayspots that I'm working on. Niantic has already removed about 10.
Now the trail you're mentioning is a different story, and I honestly don't see that this is a bad thing. The signposts are mostly there - at least in the northern part of the road - and they all have something on them that could be considered educational. Who makes these, is it really that important? Some of these signposts have been there before Pokemon Go even existed. And no one directly profits from these as home wayspot or anything.
Either way, if you're a local, you can contact me on Telegram @llamazap, so we can work together to clean up this mess. Langlingen alone has over 40 fake wayspots that dont even exist. It's just stuff taken from other places, there's a wayspot from Leipzig and there's one from Neu Darchau, just to name a couple.
Just to quote myself on Telegram yesterday: "Wenn ich hier fertig bin, steht hier NICHTS mehr." These people operate on a pretty high level of audacity.
I'm not local but would appreciate your support.
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@NianticGiffard Any News?
Will we ever get a response?
Either Niantic is on vacation or there are no more employees at Wayfarer because everything is currently stock and taking longer and longer in terms of decisions and results. You'd think it would be better if Niantic hired some "good" reviewers to get ahead. In the meantime, my reports on fakes are piling up @NianticTintino !?
They're not on vacation. They just don't understand how to set their priorities correctly. Instead of focusing on Wayfarer, the database that powers their games, and hiring talented people for it, they choose to cut jobs and lay off talented people. As if that wasn't enough, they develop one game after the other which is discontinued after a few months instead of finally focusing on what is already there. There's no use pinging Tintino either, he's not responding.
It's just sad to see how the Wayfarer community knows more about Wayfarer and the rules than the company that runs it. And we're stupid enough to do all the work for free.
Of course, saying they might be on vacation was sarcasm ;) But you are absolutely right, nothing to add 👍🏻
This has already being taken care of. There's still some more fakes around, but I'll write posts for those too, as soon as I get a response to the reports from Niantic.
https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/34023/
https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/34338/
https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/34564/
I repeat that the trail itself is -not- fake. The same signs have just been used in all sorts of places or placed in incorrect locations to spread them out for more Pokestops. If you want to verify, I've posted lots of sphere photos on google maps.
That too is falsification, whether the nature trail does not exist or whether the locations of the signs are intentionally wrong. By the way, @NianticTintino , @NianticGiffard , for this specific reason, I continue to plead for a street view & GPS cam photos obligation for nominations. This 3☆ for "could be in this place" is nonsense and inevitably leads to fakes being accepted!
I am aware and working on moving and removing everything that is incorrect. I am a local. Please check the linked threads.
I hadn't checked, I just saw that there hadn't been a reply here yet. Then I'll leave the rest to you.