AI sucks and I got banned

[Roofi92]

I got banned. It’s the most hopeless system operating in Wayfarer. I am a very active member of Wayfarer and I have managed to submit a ton of POIs. I know all the criteria perfectly and my rating level is always at “Great”.

For the second time, I have been completely blocked for 30 days, and my Pokemon GO account has been banned as well.
The artificial intelligence that preliminarily reviews submissions is not working correctly;it’s working very poorly. The first ban I received was for submitting an information board – the AI interpreted it as an offensive image, and since I submitted two similar boards one after the other, I got a warning and a minute later, a ban. With no possibility to appeal the warning.

The appeals system is another joke. It’s another bot that sends the same message. It’s not a real verification process. The same arguments are presented every time.

After the first ban was lifted, the majority of my submissions were immediately rejected by the AI. The submissions were historic buildings listed on the heritage register. Each time, I added a link to a webpage with the building’s history. Such places absolutely meet the Wayfarer criteria. However, according to the malfunctioning AI, they are non-compliant and automatically rejected.

After the last outage, it was possible to create a POI that was previously automatically rejected; the best part is that one of them started being displayed on the Wayfarer homepage as an exemplary submission.

After the AI was “fixed”, unfortunately, a historic villa in my town that I submitted was rejected again, and the photo showing the building and the trees around it was interpreted as offensive. Once again, I received a 30-day ban.
This is very unfair,especially since I actively participate in building the community and new places to play. Moreover, it’s even more difficult because I was on the final stretch to reaching level 50 in Pokemon GO and wanted to do it before the level changes on October 15th. I was deprived of this chance by a bot that cannot properly assess the situation.

I don’t know where else I can report this. Attempting to appeal the decision ended with the bot sending another automated message, which this time changed the reason for the ban, citing not an offensive photo, but a photo from a third-party source. This system is bad, and many players, including myself, are suffering because of it. I’ve been stripped of the ability to play. After actions like this, players won’t return to Wayfarer or Pokemon GO. Something has to change.

[salixsorbus]

The “Abuse” or “offensive” rejection narrative can be flagged for a nomination for any of the following reasons

* The photo is not yours (e.g., taken from streetview, found on another website)
* The photo is fake
* The waypoint is fake
* The text itself is abusive
* The nomination is controversial and likely to be offensive (e.g., a mural of terrorists)
* Another nomination was abusive and all of yours have been flagged as a consequence
* The wayspot location pin is misplaced
* The wayspot is deliberately misrepresented (e..g., on school property but pretending it isn’t)
* (there may be others)

When a wayfarer is given a suspension, it is often the case that their pending nominations are automatically rejected. This is not the “AI” evaluating those nominations, but an automatic process because when abuse is found, it is often more than a single nomination that has been abused.

[Roofi92]

I understand what kinds of things can lead to a warning. But here, it was explicitly stated that the reason for the ban was a malicious, offensive photo. The point is submitted exactly in its correct location; the photo shows only trees and the object itself, and the point is marked precisely on the building on the map.

The core of the issue is this entire system. I received a ban that is unjustified because the submission meets all the criteria in every aspect. And there’s no way to appeal it because it’s not a real process. It all happens automatically.

[AliceWonder1511]

Hi @Roofi92
Welcome to the forum
Did you take the photos on your own?
You mentioned 3. party violence was outlined.

[salixsorbus]

The words malicious and offensive are unhelpful, regardless of whether they appear in the emails from Niantic or you have added them, as the actual issue is that the submission was determined to be abusive. Since you got a third-party-photo warning, it is likely that the abuse was the use of a third party photo.

Everything else can be good about a submission, but if the photo is taken from elsewhere (e.g., a website, streetview), this is strictly forbidden. Photo Guidelines — Wayfarer Help Center

[CrownFeather]

As far as I know, Emily shouldn’t be suspending accounts or instructing them to be sent to the Wayfarer team for internal review. Maybe a new feature was added, though.
Anyway, I found the site below. I think you have borrowed the image from this page.
https://dzienniklodzki.pl/willa-hasenklevera-w-lodzi-surowa-kara-za-zniszczenie-podczas-remontu-zabytkowej-rezydencji-sprawa-tego-skandalu-trafila-do/ar/c1-17806997

[salixsorbus]

@Roofi92

And there’s no way to appeal it because it’s not a real process.

It’s a real process. A process doesn’t have to involve people doing manual steps in order for it to be real.

You have come to a good place for appealing, so there is a way to appeal. Niantic staff do read these threads and do reply when necessary. Sometimes when people are requesting a suspension is overturned, Niantic confirm that the suspension was justified and say what the cause was. Sometimes, the suspension is overturned once Niantic look at the issue again.

[salixsorbus]

I don’t see this as a new feature - I believe that whenever a submission is flagged for third-party-photo, Niantic will review this to see if any further action is required.

Well found on where the image was taken from

[Roofi92]

It’s true that I didn’t take this photo myself. The photo belongs to the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments in Łódź.

Currently, renovation work is being carried out on the building, as it is being converted into a hotel. Taking a good photo is difficult due to roadworks, protective tarpaulins covering the renovation, etc.

Therefore, I contacted the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments and requested permission to use their photos of the building. I received them, along with authorization to use them. The photo isn’t entirely from a third-party source in the unauthorized sense. Everything was done legally.

[salixsorbus]

The rules are very clear on this. You cannot use third party photos under any circumstances. You have to take the photo yourself. If this means a submission cannot be done because the POI is blocked, then the submission has to wait.

If you can provide proof of what you say, Niantic might be willing to reverse the suspension, but the wayspot submission will still be rejected. I cannot speak for Niantic, but merely imagine that an error made in good faith might be treated less harshly. You would need to provide solid evidence.

Added: If the building use is changing, then best practice is to wait until it has changed then submit it as it what now is, not as what it used to be. Using an old photo, when knowing the building is changing, is misleading at best.

[shritwod]

There is no way for the Wayfarer team to know that permission has been granted, it must therefore be something you’ve taken yourself that isn’t published anywhere else.

It’s a serious issue, because if an unauthorised photo is used in-game then someone could pursue Niantic/Scopely for copyright damages.

[elijustrying]

Welcome @Roofi92

The rules around photos are actually simple.
It has to be one you have taken yourself.
I appreciate that you may think that getting permission from another party to use a photo is ok, however that is not acceptable for wayfarer. When you submit the photo you are in effect saying to wayfarer this is my photo that I give to you to use.
So any photo taken by anyone else permission or not is not acceptable.

[NianticAaron]

Hey @Roofi92 ,

Let me try and explain.

@Roofi92

The first ban I received was for submitting an information board

This is not correct. You must have received an email outlining the exact violation and it was not “submitting an information board”.

@Roofi92

the AI interpreted it as an offensive image

Each and every enforcement in Wayfarer precedes a manual review.

@Roofi92

I got a warning and a minute later, a ban.

Not possible. The suspension was for an entirely different submission over a month after the warning.

@Roofi92

With no possibility to appeal the warning.

This is incorrect. You can appeal any punishment in Wayfarer here on the community or through the appeal webform.

@Roofi92

It’s another bot that sends the same message. It’s not a real verification process.

Incorrect again, every appeal in Wayfarer is reviewed manually. We take appeals very seriously.

@Roofi92

The same arguments are presented every time.

That’s because we present facts and facts don’t change.

@Roofi92

After the first ban was lifted, the majority of my submissions were immediately rejected by the AI.

I see that most of your rejected submissions were reviewed by the community.

@Roofi92

Once again, I received a 30-day ban.

Submitting third party images is a violation of Wayfarer policies and is considered abusive.

@Roofi92

I was deprived of this chance by a bot that cannot properly assess the situation.

ML doesn’t enforce punishments at all.

@Roofi92

Attempting to appeal the decision ended with the bot sending another automated message,

You have received a response from a human after thoroughly reviewing your case.

[Roofi92]

@NianticAaron

Not possible. The suspension was for an entirely different submission over a month after the warning.

I’m referring to a situation from a few months ago. After a long break, I returned to the game sometime in May. I then decided to continue building POIs in my area. At that time, I only submitted two things; both were information boards located a few meters apart from each other. The submissions were made one after the other on May 2nd. They were rejected.

Subsequently, for the first board submission, I received an email with a warning stating that the image was offensive and that any further such submissions would be punished with a ban. Literally two minutes later, I received a second email regarding the submission of the second board, stating that I had learned nothing from the previous warning that was sent, and therefore I was receiving a ban. I should add that this was my return to the game and to submitting after years (2-3 years); these were the only two submissions in my queue, and there had been no prior warnings.

[NianticAaron]

@Roofi92

Subsequently, for the first board submission, I received an email with a warning stating that the image was offensive and that any further such submissions would be punished with a ban. Literally two minutes later, I received a second email regarding the submission of the second board, stating that I had learned nothing from the previous warning that was sent, and therefore I was receiving a ban.

This is not correct. You had received the warning in March where as this incident occurred in May.

[Roofi92]

How could I have received a warning in March for submissions that were made in May? Those were my first submissions since 2023.

[NianticAaron]

Let me share the details in a DM.