How did "The Home Depot" get approved?
CuddlyT3ddyBear-ING
Posts: 36 ✭✭
I don't understand how this waypoint at 40.667655,-73.998883, "The Home Depot" ever got through? This is basically like approving McDonalds or Costco, there's nothing particularly special or unique about the Home Depot, it's a national chain store here in the US, they're in a lot cities. This is the kind of portal that Niantic should be charging sponsorship/advertisment fees for! I would try to have it removed, but there's not a "Stupid Portal" category in Report Invalid Portal/Pokestop.
Tagged:
Comments
Because some clueless reviewers were approving it, either they're general reviewers or Niantic reviewers.
At most you can request @NianticLC or @NianticAaron to 'educate' those clueless reviewers, but you can't request that Wayspot to be removed unless it meet any removal criteria (which are different than rejection criteria).
Hey, @CuddlyT3ddyBear-ING! It looks like we haven’t gotten to this request yet or it hasn’t been submitted via the Scanner; at this time, we only take appeals to overturn decisions we’ve already made.
No, I'm asking you to educate those reviewers who are mistakenly accepting this Wayspot!
It's a little difficult to choose an appropriate category with which to appeal, because in the scanner you can only choose "No Pedestrian Access", "Obstructs Emergency Services", "Private Residential Property", "School", "Permanently removed", or "Duplicate", none of which applies in this situation. As it is I did file a report for this portal on Jun 11, 2023, but the removal was denied on June 26th. Do you need me to file a new report?
Hi @CuddlyT3ddyBear-ING! Please reach out to our dedicated team using the Wayfarer help chat bubble or report this using the webform: https://niantic.helpshift.com/hc/en/21-wayfarer/faq/2190-reporting-abuse-in-wayfarer/ Thanks!
Okay, I submitted a report there and opened case 24405628. However, I received a reply saying, "We took another look at the Wayspot in question and decided that it does not meet our criteria for removal at this time." and saying I should submit a report at https://www.pokemongolive.com/report-location. Which basically I have done already, and provides choices that do not apply in this situation.
Doesn't this waypoint meet the rejection criteria of "A generic business, chain, or franchise that is not locally unique" as spelled out in https://wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/new/criteria/rejection
That isn't the bases on which Wayspot removal is determined. Wayspot removal is based on whether the Wayspot meets any of the following conditions:
For all other cases, only the (verified) property owner can request removal.
However there is another catch. If you can submit strong evidences that the Wayspot is the result of abuse, then Niantic might remove it just like what was happened here.
Keep at mind that some reviewers mistakenly accepting it doesn't count as abuse, but reviewers coordinating each other to accept it, does.
Personally, I believe it is abuse since it should have never been approved in the first place because it clearly does not meet criteria to be a POI. I don't care if they were coordinating or not, or if they were ignorant of rules, it's still wrong.
I believe it is abuse because it's clear that this does not meet eligibility criteria and never should have been approved in the first place. I don't really care of they were coordinating or not, that would be impossible for me to prove, and frankly irrelevant. It's a bad waypoint, and should be removed.
Then it can't be removed. Wait until the store being closed down permanently.
@NianticLC @NianticAaron once again I'm requesting to give education to whoever submitted this and also accepted this in review.
Yeah, I went ahead and reported to https://www.pokemongolive.com/, but I was shot down. You have to be an owner, or their legal representative, to get something removed via this route. So there is no recourse to address portals that were approved but never met eligibility criteria in the first place. All I can do now is complain at @BrianRose via Twitter. 😛