I got banned for trying to move a Wayspot 2 times
MaasK7-PGO
Posts: 9 ✭✭
So yesterday i got an email saying that im being banned for trying to move a Pokestop in Pokemon Go twice in november. I dont know where i tried to move it, but i know i could only move it a couple of meters. In the guidelines it says somtheing like "a violation is trying to move it out of the city/country". I didnt do that and the Wayspot is in the wrong place to begin with.
I never got a warning, never got a 7 day ban and now out of the blue i get banned for 30 days.
Im talking to the Support and also opened an appeal. I get 1 answer from the support a day due to timezone difference and i quickly realied, that the appeal is being handeled by a bot. So i have not gotten any answers or explanations and the bot closed the whole "conversation" (cant really call it that) after 5 messages with the message:
"We have already fully reviewed your account and informed you of our decision. This is final. All further inquiries regarding this case will be ignored."
In all of the messages of the appeal i tried to talk to a real person, but with no luck and now its closed and im being ignored?
What can i do to reach a real support person (preferably german, but english is also fine)? Even if the ban is justified, i should have only gotten a warning or a 7 day ban.
What else can i do? Its so frustrating knowing you just talk to a bot and your problem is not getting adressed or helped. I dont want to miss all of february.
Comments
You should use Wayfarer Support chat to request Wayspot location edits more than 20m. Trying to use multiple edits in-game might result you a ban.
By the way which Wayspot you need to edit its location?
Hello and welcome @MaasK7-PGO
did you use the link here to appeal the sanction
Using this form goes to a human.
If you would like to share the edit we can comment.
Editing a location in the lightship database in order to manipulate the gameboard in a particular game is something that you can receive a punishment for. As the link above explains if the offence is deemed serious enough you can find yourself going to a higher level straightaway.
I didnt try to move it that far and its only of by a couple of meters. I also dont care that much about the edit itself. I just wanted to try it and didnt have any ill intent or violations in mind. What i do care about is the fact that this is my first "offense" and i get a 30 day ban with no prior warning.
This is the wayspot. It has been in the game since the start of Pokemon Go. When i got the mail i was banned, i could still access the game for a couple of hours and just checked the position and you can clearly see the wayspot on the map, as it is not covered by anything, but the marker is next to it.
Also one day prior to all of this i got a new wayspot accepted, so they should kind of realise that i didnt try to violate any terms and just trying to do my best.
Hi, thank you for the link.
I tried this one, but all replies were done by a bot.
I dont quite understand what you mean by "Editing a location in the lightship database", but i just tried moving it in Pokemon Go itself.
As stated in my previous answer, the wayspot has been in the game since the start of PoGo, so i dont know if they are too sensitive with trying to edit these things.
I also dont know how i can share the edit, or even see what/how i edited it, cause as i said it was done in the game and i only received the email informing me about the ban and couple of hours later 2 emails about the rejection of my edit.
That map is not an official Niantic map. I'm not sure who operates it or how they run it, but just bear that in mind.
When you send an edit suggestion, you'll typically receive a confirmation email from Niantic that tells you the edit is now in the system. I don't know what the title of this email will be in German, but in English it will usually be titled "Thanks! Niantic Wayspot edit suggestion received for <wayspot name>!". You might be able to find it in your inbox by searching for the name of the Wayspot in question.
If you are able to find it, can you screenshot the email and attach it to a comment here using the paperclip icon? You're welcome to censor your email address and any other personal info you might want to hide, but the email should show the current coordinates and the suggested coordinates. This may help your case if the suggested coordinates are indeed valid.
It's also worth asking if you tried to edit the title or description of the Wayspot when you submitted the location edit, with instructions on which location to pick.
@MaasK7-PGO
if you use the link I provided it is dealt with by a human.
and if you can provide the info as Hankwolfman has asked for it will be helpful.
Although you are carrying out all your actions via the Pokémon Go game it is the underlying database of wayspots that you are affecting and this is used by all Niantic games.
Wayspots once agreed are placed in the database called Lightship. Each game then selects and pulls data for use. So although you are suggesting the change in Pokémon Go the change would be made to the Lightship database before then being used by all games.
The integrity of this database is important to all games.
@kawin240-ING can you help relocating the Wayspot, please?
The current cordinates are 48.768290, 11.417393. These are a bit off. I checked mine and i also didnt select the right place. To be honest i kind of tried putting it closer to the street, so it is accesible from the other side of the street. The side it is on has been under construction for over a year and will be under construction for the forseable future (school is being build there).
I understand that that may be a violation, but i the rejection criteria is moving it out of the city or country. So in my opinion they should reject it but banning? Also if you agree that a ban is valid i also accept that, but 30 days with no prior warning or bans is over the top.
While we are on the topic, i tried moving a different wayspot in august of last year. That one is one the wrong side of the road. It wasnt changed and i haven heard back on that one ever since. So i just assumed the system is useless, but now i got banned for one i did on a later date...
I attached that one here, so if you could help relocate that one it would be appreciated. (Can also check it on Street View)
But this also proves my point. While i wrongly moved the one i was banned for i tried to correct this one with no success and got suspended with no regards to me actually bein a normal player and trying to help.
How long does a reply usually take? I made the appeal yesterday after reading your message, but since i got the message:
"Your appeal has been closed. We have already fully reviewed your account and informed you of our decision. This is final. All further inquiries regarding this case will be ignored."
It seems like i am being completly ignored. What should i do if im not messaged until tomorrow? Open an appeal with a different email and just tell them the whole story again?
@NianticOren could you please confirm if this person has been through the wayfarer appeals process.
I see that you had created a ban appeal using the Pokémon GO channel.
I also checked the edit submission in question and we stand by our decision. Moving Wayspots away from the object they represent is considered abuse and can lead to a ban directly.
The issue is that many players are unaware that they should request location edits >20m through this forum or Wayfarer help chat, which there is no explanation about that in-game. As a result, many of them are tried to move Wayspots location step-by-step in-game.
Maybe you should discuss this with both Ingress and Pokemon GO team?
You just said "it can lead to a ban". Not that it has to result in a a ban. And my whole issue is that i got banned for 30 days. I didnt edit multiple, just one and Im sorry for editing it, but why was the 7 day ban and any warning whatsoever skipped?
And the ban appeal in the Pokemon Go channel has been nothing but frustrating and unfair in my opinion. Why was it done by a bot? I askes for a person multiple times and all i got in the end was "Your appeal has been closed. We have already fully reviewed your account and informed you of our decision. This is final. All further inquiries regarding this case will be ignored."
And now there is radio silence.
That's possible. You can refer to this link for more information: https://niantic.helpshift.com/hc/en/21-wayfarer/faq/4275-wayfarer-abuse-enforcement-ladder-policy/
If you look at the wayspot they were attempting to edit, the correct position of the Wayspot is maybe around 2 or 3 metres away from the current location. They admit that they tried to move it further than that in this post and that their suggested location was not correct:
But it was such a minor offense. Cant it be atleast reduced to 7 days? 30 days seems way over the top. Also while my location edit was wrong, i already said it in here, that the current position isnt correct either. Also it says the first step is a warning. That was completly skipped and it started with a 30 day ban.
Depending on the offence the sanction can start at any point. So it isn’t a series that always starts with warning, it can start with a ban.
Ok, depending on the offence. So is a 30 day ban with the potential of any future mistakes being permanent fair, when i tried to edit 1 wayspot that is not in the correct location to another wrong location? This was in november and now over 2 months later im missing some major events due to that? Also another edit i did in august (wrong location to right location) has been ignored ever since.
Respectfully (and correct me if I'm wrong), I think you need to focus less on the location having already been a bit inaccurate and instead focus on the fact that, instead of trying to move it to the correct location, you intentionally tried to move it to an even less accurate location.
Im not really focusing on that. My problem is the ban duration. Its not like wrongfully tried to edit multiple wayspots and mess up their database. It was only 1 and now after over two months i get this (in my opinion) over the top punishment. But when i actually edited something from a wrong location to the right one, it has been ignored for 6 months already.
My sole focus is on the degree of the punishment and that the whole appealing process was frustrating as hell (answers were only made by a bot and questions were not answered). I apologized and even admitted my mistake, but i should have gotten a warning or a 7 day ban instead of a 30 day ban, since this is my first ever violation ever.
@MaasK7-PGO
At this point there is not much that can be done.
There will be a spectrum of opinion as to what a suitable sanction is - the age old question of does the punishment fit the crime. However in this situation it was the Wayfarer policies that were applied having looked at what had happened. They decided 30 days was appropriate.
At least you have now had responses from a human, who has re-examined the case, and you are also clear about what has happened.
At this stage there is no more to be done as they are sticking with their assessment of what sanction to apply having looked and re-looked at your case.
I appreciate it will be hard as you will be unable to play but Niantic regards this as serious.