If I downvote something at the forums, I downvote posts that do not contribute to the discussion of the topic - like the one you just did.
All in all your comment leads me to believe that you have troubles with people voicing their (differing) opinions. Unfortunately that's not how discussion boards tend to work.
You are free to believe whatever. You clearly haven't read the whole thread and also know nothing about the Downvoter situation, so your opinion about the few comments you actually did read is not that important.
No disrespect meant, there are a lot of comments here (except from Niantic, lol) and a lot to read. I'm not gonna struggle to convince you.
Oh I have read all the comments. Your original question was, why PoGo players have an option to nominate anonymously and Ingress players don't. And you continued arguing that it is unfair and should be optional also for Ingress players. And I argued that it should stay as it is as I do not share your views about it being a vital privacy issue that should be tackled with a change in game mechanics.
Comments between my previous and your first post were speculative, some informative, some misleading or even completely unrelated to the actual topic. I did at first miss your post about not posting to the Ingress community forums though, sorry about that.
I agree with you 100% that Niantic's lack of communication is appalling.
And you are correct that I do not know about "Downvoter situation". I do not even know what that means. So you are free to educate me on that matter.
@ForzaComo-ING I'm with you. When I downvote something it's because of the content. Typically I'm not even paying attention to who wrote it.
@Johnsonsine-ING Perhaps the "absence of solidarity" is because people don't share your sentiments. I know it's easy to feel like "this thing that I want is extremely important and should be Niantic's top priority." I've been there myself, but I quickly take a step back and assess the issue in terms of the other things that are on Niantic's plate. (I mean c'mon... I still can't recycle Apex boosts after all this time. (-: ) I haven't heard a compelling argument from you about why this particular bit of showing your agent name is such a big risk compared to the other ones that are built into Ingress. I'm open to hearing one but thus far the only argument that I've really heard is "because PoGo has it", and that isn't a convincing argument for me. Also, it's really an Ingress issue rather than a Wayfarer issue since Ingress is the one that implements that display.
I am not trying to give YOU a compelling argument, I am trying to get Niantic to do something about this problem. Just because you don't see the problem as something that is in your way, doesn't mean it's not a problem for others. I'm getting quite tired of explaining this... You are very free to disagree (...), but this is not about you.
That not much people share his opinion, doesn't mean that she isn't entitled to have that opinion. And, even although a lot of people think there are higher priorities, from a legal point of view, she perhaps has every right to have this on top of the prioritylist.
Don't forget that even an IP-address is considered personal data.
But.. to be fair, I have doubt she is here at the right spot at this forum, and its unfortunate that Niantic don't confirm it and redirect @Johnsonsine-ING to the right location. That would end this discussion.
I think you were the one who wrote the email to their privacy officer? I contacted them this morning (Danish time).
It should not have to be necessary, but I don't want to keep arguing pointlessly with other users to prove a point. I never wanted to discuss this, really. I just want to be able to contact Niantic, and to get minimal privacy when I use their products.
Ironically, the email was auto-responded to addressing me by my old username in Pokémon Go (where I started my Wayfarer journey from) - that account should be dead and buried as I deleted it in March 2022, and I have requested complete data deletion so many times, but... Niantic's gonna Niantic.
(Also, I'm she - not he. 😊 But that's not too important here, lol)
You've now lost me with this post. Your response to someone asking about the difference between a player IGN being on a portal from nominating vs on the scanner from normal game activity is really just "I'm tired"?? Cop-out.
After all this time and the wonderful posts that you have written here I really expected a little bit of empathy towards a person that has a problem and instead of trying to help them this time you're dismissing their issues "hey, I don't have any problems playing Ingress".
It's good that you enjoy Ingress, but if another person has an issue and they just want a reply from Niantic I don't see any reason to tell them anything negative.
I don't have any problem with my username being displayed on the photos that I took, I don't care either for the photos that I took and that they don't have my name because they were sent in the early times to their email, but that doesn't matter. It's not about me, it's not about you, it's the OP the one that is expecting a reply from a Niantic employee.
We don't know the reasons why they are requesting this (and we don't need to know that, we are just plain users), but obviously it's important to them so everyone around here should show a little bit of empathy and don't dismiss their request just because you enjoy Ingress and you're proud of your nominations.
Sorry for the delay in responding to this discussion. The "Codename Display for Wayspot Submissions" setting has been brought up to the Ingress team for consideration and is beyond the scope of the Wayfarer Team to enable. If there are any changes in the near future, we will be sure to communicate those when we are made aware.
@WheelTrekker-ING Part of it is that every Ingress player who has ever submitted a portal or photo has had their agent name on the photo, and nearly every player should have reasonably known that it would happen... at least after the first one. By 450 they should clearly have known this. I would be arguing their side if a change had been made to show names that were previously hidden.
I still haven't heard a compelling argument for why portal photos are different than resonators, mods, comm actions, scout controllers, etc. Why are portal photos more problematic than any of those other things? The only argument that I've been able to pick up is "Because PoGo can", but PoGo is much more stealthy than Ingress in general... one could easily play PoGo and leave no record. Why is this important enough to tag the same Niantic employee over and over?
Thankyou @NianticTintino for acknowledging and stating what the current situation is.
This remains on the Ambassador’s list to keep eye on, hoping for a change.
Attitudes towards the availability of personal data have changed over time and are different in different cultures around the world. Just because something happened a particular way in the past, does not mean it should continue that way unchallenged if the attitudes in society change.
This could have been communicated here three months ago. While I'm glad to finally see an answer, I'm honestly quite shocked that it had to get this crazy. I have tagged you and others from the team desperately, and you have seen the tags - and completely ignored me. Someone could have posted: "We will look into that and get back to you" (kinda like the post you made now), but nothing. Since July 15th!
If you want "explorers" to feel truly like "valued members of the community" (like those standard Wayfarer emails say), it would be smart to start walking that walk too. This case is not the only example of how users are ignored, far from. I am personally SO close to throwing the whole Wayfarer thing in the dumpster once and for all. If I could feel certain that my personal data would be deleted by Niantic when requested by my, I probably would have long ago. Niantic has a serious problem when it comes to users' privacy and personal data. And not just throught the obvious sharing via playing your games (before some bright person brings that up again!).
I find it funny how I have written up and down here for months (even replied in a DM you sent me once) and NOTHING from you - and then I email that privacy officer of yours yesterday, and then suddenly I get a response. How crazy is it, that this is what it takes to get through to someone here?
I'm really disappointed about all of this and I actually hate that, because I want to keep being excited about Wayfarer and Niantic and it just blows right back in my face EVERY TIME. I hope I find a reason to keep doing this weird hobby that is Wayfarer. It has given me so many great experiences, but I have to say, this forum was never one of them.
One last thing: FIX THE FORUM. Please. Make it much more managable (front page is a mess) and for the love of God, give os an actual Block button. Between how little moderation your team does here and how some users decide to make something personal and be unpleasant and rude, a Block button is the minimum you can give us? Ignore is there, yes, but it doesn't really do anything useful when there is really a problem. Thank you.
You insist on being so extremely selfish and arrogant that you actually THINK that your opinion is required. I can't change that, but I'd actually encourage you to read the Ambassador's truly insightful comment just underneath your own latest one, because that's just another thing to consider here.
Why do you delude yourself that I need to convince you though?
I have no idea who you are and why it's so important for you to prove me wrong here. I remember having enjoyed some of your comments in other posts during my time on the forum. I have no idea why you are suddenly so passionate about proving me wrong here though. The thing is, again, that this is not about you. It's about privacy and privacy preferences for someone else. Not about portal photos either... But the data we are forced to leave on them. Even if we have done 450, that doesn't make it less of a problem?
I could tell you about the story that started giving me these concerns. But then it'd be some kind of strange trade deal; I give you a piece of very personal information, and maybe then I can get you off my back, so to speak? No. Also because I do NOT want to tell you. It's personal and it's a difficult situation. So please, back off.
I can't force others to be empathetic or even unselfish, but please at least consider this: I am not raging around in here because I am a person who wants conflict or attention or whatever (actually I want the opposite of attention...). Could you just trust me when I say there have been some people and some situations that have made me wish to be more anonymous?
There are creeps out there, Hosette. Even though you don't understand my situation, please remember that even if there's a situation one can't see or imagine for themself, that does not mean it doesn't exist for someone else. And it certainly does not mean the other person has to justify it or validate it. I would never explain the situation to you or anyone else in the open forum, because it's not a chat kinda situation. Can you respect that at least?? I can't block you as much as I want to, so I'd at least like to avoid the downvoting and the belittling comments about my concern. Agree to disagree? (Seriously, stop. Please.)
I wasn't trying to prove you wrong... I was trying to understand something that seemed incredibly illogical to me, and to explain why it seemed that way.
And yes, I know there are creeps out there. I was once in a city about 500 miles away from where I live, playing Ingress fairly late at night. Unbeknownst to me there was a guy following me a block or two away. The local members of my faction alerted me to his presence, explained to me why they considered him dangerous, gave me useful info, and stayed up monitoring intel until they knew I was safely back at my hotel. This was about a decade ago and the details are hazy but he either had outstanding charges or was charged with a violent crime not too long after this incident.
Comments
If I downvote something at the forums, I downvote posts that do not contribute to the discussion of the topic - like the one you just did.
All in all your comment leads me to believe that you have troubles with people voicing their (differing) opinions. Unfortunately that's not how discussion boards tend to work.
You are free to believe whatever. You clearly haven't read the whole thread and also know nothing about the Downvoter situation, so your opinion about the few comments you actually did read is not that important.
No disrespect meant, there are a lot of comments here (except from Niantic, lol) and a lot to read. I'm not gonna struggle to convince you.
Oh I have read all the comments. Your original question was, why PoGo players have an option to nominate anonymously and Ingress players don't. And you continued arguing that it is unfair and should be optional also for Ingress players. And I argued that it should stay as it is as I do not share your views about it being a vital privacy issue that should be tackled with a change in game mechanics.
Comments between my previous and your first post were speculative, some informative, some misleading or even completely unrelated to the actual topic. I did at first miss your post about not posting to the Ingress community forums though, sorry about that.
I agree with you 100% that Niantic's lack of communication is appalling.
And you are correct that I do not know about "Downvoter situation". I do not even know what that means. So you are free to educate me on that matter.
@ForzaComo-ING I'm with you. When I downvote something it's because of the content. Typically I'm not even paying attention to who wrote it.
@Johnsonsine-ING Perhaps the "absence of solidarity" is because people don't share your sentiments. I know it's easy to feel like "this thing that I want is extremely important and should be Niantic's top priority." I've been there myself, but I quickly take a step back and assess the issue in terms of the other things that are on Niantic's plate. (I mean c'mon... I still can't recycle Apex boosts after all this time. (-: ) I haven't heard a compelling argument from you about why this particular bit of showing your agent name is such a big risk compared to the other ones that are built into Ingress. I'm open to hearing one but thus far the only argument that I've really heard is "because PoGo has it", and that isn't a convincing argument for me. Also, it's really an Ingress issue rather than a Wayfarer issue since Ingress is the one that implements that display.
I am not trying to give YOU a compelling argument, I am trying to get Niantic to do something about this problem. Just because you don't see the problem as something that is in your way, doesn't mean it's not a problem for others. I'm getting quite tired of explaining this... You are very free to disagree (...), but this is not about you.
I would like Niantic to sort this out.
It is not a satisfactory situation.
That not much people share his opinion, doesn't mean that she isn't entitled to have that opinion. And, even although a lot of people think there are higher priorities, from a legal point of view, she perhaps has every right to have this on top of the prioritylist.
Don't forget that even an IP-address is considered personal data.
But.. to be fair, I have doubt she is here at the right spot at this forum, and its unfortunate that Niantic don't confirm it and redirect @Johnsonsine-ING to the right location. That would end this discussion.
I think you were the one who wrote the email to their privacy officer? I contacted them this morning (Danish time).
It should not have to be necessary, but I don't want to keep arguing pointlessly with other users to prove a point. I never wanted to discuss this, really. I just want to be able to contact Niantic, and to get minimal privacy when I use their products.
Ironically, the email was auto-responded to addressing me by my old username in Pokémon Go (where I started my Wayfarer journey from) - that account should be dead and buried as I deleted it in March 2022, and I have requested complete data deletion so many times, but... Niantic's gonna Niantic.
(Also, I'm she - not he. 😊 But that's not too important here, lol)
You've now lost me with this post. Your response to someone asking about the difference between a player IGN being on a portal from nominating vs on the scanner from normal game activity is really just "I'm tired"?? Cop-out.
After all this time and the wonderful posts that you have written here I really expected a little bit of empathy towards a person that has a problem and instead of trying to help them this time you're dismissing their issues "hey, I don't have any problems playing Ingress".
It's good that you enjoy Ingress, but if another person has an issue and they just want a reply from Niantic I don't see any reason to tell them anything negative.
I don't have any problem with my username being displayed on the photos that I took, I don't care either for the photos that I took and that they don't have my name because they were sent in the early times to their email, but that doesn't matter. It's not about me, it's not about you, it's the OP the one that is expecting a reply from a Niantic employee.
We don't know the reasons why they are requesting this (and we don't need to know that, we are just plain users), but obviously it's important to them so everyone around here should show a little bit of empathy and don't dismiss their request just because you enjoy Ingress and you're proud of your nominations.
Ok. Bye...
THANK YOU.
Hello Explorers,
Sorry for the delay in responding to this discussion. The "Codename Display for Wayspot Submissions" setting has been brought up to the Ingress team for consideration and is beyond the scope of the Wayfarer Team to enable. If there are any changes in the near future, we will be sure to communicate those when we are made aware.
Thanks!
@WheelTrekker-ING Part of it is that every Ingress player who has ever submitted a portal or photo has had their agent name on the photo, and nearly every player should have reasonably known that it would happen... at least after the first one. By 450 they should clearly have known this. I would be arguing their side if a change had been made to show names that were previously hidden.
I still haven't heard a compelling argument for why portal photos are different than resonators, mods, comm actions, scout controllers, etc. Why are portal photos more problematic than any of those other things? The only argument that I've been able to pick up is "Because PoGo can", but PoGo is much more stealthy than Ingress in general... one could easily play PoGo and leave no record. Why is this important enough to tag the same Niantic employee over and over?
Thankyou @NianticTintino for acknowledging and stating what the current situation is.
This remains on the Ambassador’s list to keep eye on, hoping for a change.
Attitudes towards the availability of personal data have changed over time and are different in different cultures around the world. Just because something happened a particular way in the past, does not mean it should continue that way unchallenged if the attitudes in society change.
Hi @NianticTintino
This could have been communicated here three months ago. While I'm glad to finally see an answer, I'm honestly quite shocked that it had to get this crazy. I have tagged you and others from the team desperately, and you have seen the tags - and completely ignored me. Someone could have posted: "We will look into that and get back to you" (kinda like the post you made now), but nothing. Since July 15th!
If you want "explorers" to feel truly like "valued members of the community" (like those standard Wayfarer emails say), it would be smart to start walking that walk too. This case is not the only example of how users are ignored, far from. I am personally SO close to throwing the whole Wayfarer thing in the dumpster once and for all. If I could feel certain that my personal data would be deleted by Niantic when requested by my, I probably would have long ago. Niantic has a serious problem when it comes to users' privacy and personal data. And not just throught the obvious sharing via playing your games (before some bright person brings that up again!).
I find it funny how I have written up and down here for months (even replied in a DM you sent me once) and NOTHING from you - and then I email that privacy officer of yours yesterday, and then suddenly I get a response. How crazy is it, that this is what it takes to get through to someone here?
I'm really disappointed about all of this and I actually hate that, because I want to keep being excited about Wayfarer and Niantic and it just blows right back in my face EVERY TIME. I hope I find a reason to keep doing this weird hobby that is Wayfarer. It has given me so many great experiences, but I have to say, this forum was never one of them.
One last thing: FIX THE FORUM. Please. Make it much more managable (front page is a mess) and for the love of God, give os an actual Block button. Between how little moderation your team does here and how some users decide to make something personal and be unpleasant and rude, a Block button is the minimum you can give us? Ignore is there, yes, but it doesn't really do anything useful when there is really a problem. Thank you.
You insist on being so extremely selfish and arrogant that you actually THINK that your opinion is required. I can't change that, but I'd actually encourage you to read the Ambassador's truly insightful comment just underneath your own latest one, because that's just another thing to consider here.
Why do you delude yourself that I need to convince you though?
I have no idea who you are and why it's so important for you to prove me wrong here. I remember having enjoyed some of your comments in other posts during my time on the forum. I have no idea why you are suddenly so passionate about proving me wrong here though. The thing is, again, that this is not about you. It's about privacy and privacy preferences for someone else. Not about portal photos either... But the data we are forced to leave on them. Even if we have done 450, that doesn't make it less of a problem?
I could tell you about the story that started giving me these concerns. But then it'd be some kind of strange trade deal; I give you a piece of very personal information, and maybe then I can get you off my back, so to speak? No. Also because I do NOT want to tell you. It's personal and it's a difficult situation. So please, back off.
I can't force others to be empathetic or even unselfish, but please at least consider this: I am not raging around in here because I am a person who wants conflict or attention or whatever (actually I want the opposite of attention...). Could you just trust me when I say there have been some people and some situations that have made me wish to be more anonymous?
There are creeps out there, Hosette. Even though you don't understand my situation, please remember that even if there's a situation one can't see or imagine for themself, that does not mean it doesn't exist for someone else. And it certainly does not mean the other person has to justify it or validate it. I would never explain the situation to you or anyone else in the open forum, because it's not a chat kinda situation. Can you respect that at least?? I can't block you as much as I want to, so I'd at least like to avoid the downvoting and the belittling comments about my concern. Agree to disagree? (Seriously, stop. Please.)
@Johnsonsine-ING Thank you for your kind words!
I wasn't trying to prove you wrong... I was trying to understand something that seemed incredibly illogical to me, and to explain why it seemed that way.
And yes, I know there are creeps out there. I was once in a city about 500 miles away from where I live, playing Ingress fairly late at night. Unbeknownst to me there was a guy following me a block or two away. The local members of my faction alerted me to his presence, explained to me why they considered him dangerous, gave me useful info, and stayed up monitoring intel until they knew I was safely back at my hotel. This was about a decade ago and the details are hazy but he either had outstanding charges or was charged with a violent crime not too long after this incident.
I'm glad you finally got a response if not a resolution @Johnsonsine-ING
Ok bye! 😉
Quit spamming. Answer was clear - go to Ingress staff.
I'm glad to be around such empathetic people like yourself in here.🙄
Do you seriously think it's okay for Niantic to ignore people like this and for this long?
Hope you don't get a similar problem. Trust me.
I literally repeated what you told me earlier. Maybe do some reflection yourself.
I think it’s now time for all to take a deep breath, and I always find a brisk walk helps.
Based on the course this post has taken, I've closed it from further engagement. Thanks,