Abuse Niantic Team

Subject: Formal Complaint: Abuse of Power by Niantic Wayfarer Administrators

Dear Niantic Support Team,

I am writing to express my deep concern over what I believe to be a clear and troubling abuse of power by Niantic Wayfarer administrators or high-level reviewers in handling my recent nomination submissions. These actions appear not only unjustified but also deliberately obstructive, directly undermining the integrity of the Wayfarer platform and the contributions of its participants.

Details of Concern
1. Unjustified Rejections:
• Multiple submissions I have made were denied despite meeting all stated Niantic Wayfarer criteria for legitimate Points of Interest (POIs).
• Upon review, these submissions align closely with other accepted POIs in the same or nearby areas, yet they were rejected with vague or inappropriate reasoning.
2. Pattern of Discrimination or Targeting:
• The rejection reasons provided are inconsistent and appear to lack any objective basis.
• This suggests either a failure to apply guidelines uniformly or deliberate targeting of my submissions without proper cause.
3. Lack of Transparency:
• The rejection feedback is non-specific and unhelpful, providing no clear rationale or actionable advice for future improvement.
• This lack of transparency creates the impression of arbitrary or unchecked decision-making by those entrusted with review powers.

Grave Concerns About Abuse of Power

The repeated and seemingly targeted denials raise serious questions about whether certain administrators or high-ranking reviewers are:
• Exercising personal bias against my contributions.
• Deliberately obstructing valid submissions without proper oversight or accountability.
• Failing to adhere to Niantic’s own established guidelines for the fair review and approval of POIs.

This type of behavior not only discourages participation but actively harms the fairness and trust that Niantic claims to uphold through the Wayfarer platform.

Impact on the Community

As an active and dedicated contributor, I strive to nominate meaningful and high-quality POIs that benefit my local and global gaming communities. The repeated unjustified rejections:
• Discourage contributors from participating, eroding the pool of high-quality submissions.
• Undermine the credibility and trustworthiness of the Wayfarer platform.
• Potentially deprive communities of valuable gameplay enhancements that these POIs could provide.

Formal Requests

To address this matter, I respectfully request the following:
1. Immediate Investigation:
• Conduct a thorough review of my recent submissions and their rejection processes to identify any signs of bias, abuse of power, or improper handling by administrators or reviewers.
2. Accountability:
• If any misuse of authority or deviation from guidelines is uncovered, take immediate action to rectify this behavior and ensure it does not continue.
3. Detailed Feedback:
• Provide a clear and detailed explanation for each of the denied submissions, specifying exactly how they failed to meet the stated criteria.
4. Platform Integrity:
• Implement stronger oversight and accountability measures for Wayfarer administrators and high-ranking reviewers to prevent future misuse of power.

Conclusion

The Wayfarer platform is a vital part of enhancing Niantic’s games, but the issues I am facing severely undermine its purpose and the trust contributors place in it. Abuse of power by those entrusted with decision-making authority damages not only the platform but also Niantic’s reputation as a company that values its community.

I demand this issue be taken seriously and resolved promptly. I am prepared to provide any additional evidence or examples as necessary and look forward to your response.

4 Likes

Welcome to the forum @Lilredrider

Please offer some screenshots of the nominations you feel were unfairly rejected, including both photos, all text, and the rejection reasons. You can obscure location information if you wish.

Wayspots live in games do not always reflect current criteria.

4 Likes

Hi, Lilredrider! Welcome!

To echo cyndiepooh, we would be able to help you begin figuring out what is happening here if you would be willing to post some of the nominations you’re referring to. Unfortunately, getting odd rejections that don’t make a lot of sense (combined with rejection reasons that don’t help) can be common in the Wayfarer experience. It can be demoralizing, and it does discourage people from submitting. I’m glad you came here to post so we can start to find some solutions for you!

7 Likes

Hello and welcome,
Given the nature of what you have concluded, if you don’t feel comfortable making that information public please do say so. I’m sure we can arrange for either an Ambassador-moderator or Admin-Moderator to discuss via DM.
On the other hand you may feel that keeping everything in the open is the best way in which case as suggested above post examples.

5 Likes

I looked into your account and can see that you have just one rejection on a location edit contribution which was correctly denied by the community. Moving an object away from its correct location is considered abuse. Moreover, if you have been using multiple accounts in Wayfarer, that’s a violation of our policies as well.

Reviewers do not know who submitted the nomination they are reviewing. This is done to ensure that there is no targeting or discrimination.

addressed above.

you can appeal your rejected contributions or post on the forum to get community feedback.

21 Likes

I think you may have posted this in the wrong thread. Think this is the correct one:

Or this one:

Its perfect example, of some points that where shared in the first post with i agree, and yes i will ad the info in mine topic. Need to go to libary and make pictures first.

Thank you1👍

I think it would be better to link this thread to yours, as your post is a bit confusing to those that are not paying attention to your appeals, like myself.

The OP’s situation seems quite different from yours, especially after Aaron took a look at their account and only saw 1 rejection.

Great i take your advise and edit it :+1:
There is also so many in this topic :sweat_smile: but some points in this topic are understandable.

And many have been address, while others can’t without the OP’s participation. They may have just wanted to vent, and they are allowed to do so.

1 Like

I suggest to use the terms and words for related themes. Change a object of location is not abuse be cause there is not objects in Wayfarer. We have POI unless Nia tic use today other word. We are exchange with Niantic workers and Ambassadors who don’t understand the terms and the heritage of all countries. I tried of move POI away of ramps, bike routes, highway, street but are rejected because there are players who want to keep that wrong and unsafe location. There another question, in early times of Ingress and Pokemon Go, before of Wayfarer, the range of precision for locating a POI was a big distance for today precision of mobile phones, There are lots of portals out of actual location. We need more tolerance about that theme and moving a portal should be part of game, same as delete it.

Good day, intersting remarks!

Any time you have an edit rejected, you may appeal it with additional evidence. Keep in mind, if the actual location of the POI is unsafe, it should be removed, not misplaced to become safe.

Yes, there are many Wayspots that appear misplaced simply because of the poor interfacing with Ingress, lower quality Satellite that has changed over 10 years, and many other factors. This shouldn’t allow us to encourage an inaccurate database going forward - now that we have better accuracy, we should strive for precision. This is why we can make edits - to improve old Wayspot locations that misrepresent the actual real-world object.

3 Likes