I am writing this post as a last resort. My Pokémon GO account (Konann99), which I have been playing and supporting continuously since July 2016, has been permanently banned. I understand this ban stems from my activity within the Wayfarer system.
While I respect the need for high-quality contributions, I am pleading for a manual review of my case for the following reasons:
Disproportionate Penalty: I am a 9-year veteran of Pokémon GO. My account has reached the incredible milestone of over 1,000,000,000 (One Billion) total XP. To lose nearly a decade of daily dedication, thousands of hours of effort, and a massive financial investment over secondary activity in Wayfarer feels extremely harsh and disproportionate.
Mental Health: Pokémon GO has been my primary tool for recovery from a severe depressive period. It is my main motivation to stay active and connected with my local community. Being abruptly cut off from this support network and the progress of 9 years is devastating for my well-being.
Willingness to Comply: If my Wayfarer contributions were deemed incorrect, it was never my intention to deceive or harm the system. I am fully willing to accept a permanent ban from the Wayfarer platform to protect the integrity of the map, but I am asking for my Pokémon GO game access to be restored.
Automated Responses: I have tried appealing through standard support channels multiple times but received only generic, automated “the decision is final” replies that do not address my specific situation.
I have been a loyal and fair player since the game launched. I am asking for a human moderator to look at the history of my account and consider the proportionality of a total game ban versus a Wayfarer-only ban for a player of my standing.
Thank you for your time and for the work you do for the community.
Supporting Evidence (Screenshots attached):
Account Progress: Proof of my 1 Billion+ XP and Level 80 Niantic Profile, showing the massive scale of my dedication.
Financial Support: My recent Web Store history showing consistent, high-tier support (15,500+ PokéCoin bundles) for the game.
Welcome to the forum. I don’t see anything in your post that pertains to a ban from Wayfarer. If you got a ban from the Wayfarer side, there would have been emails explaining the infraction and a link there to appeal to a human team about the Wayfarer infraction.
Niantic staff do not usually respond on weekends, but may respond directly to you here during the business week. They do monitor the forum.
Thank you @cyndiepooh and @darkersolstice for the welcome and the links. To clarify, I received an email stating my account was banned due to Wayfarer criteria violations, which immediately locked my Pokémon GO access as well. I have already tried the standard appeal forms but only received automated bot responses saying ‘the decision is final’.
This is why I am posting here—I am looking for a human team member to see that a 9-year-old account with 1 Billion XP and a clean record in Pokémon GO should not be permanently deleted over Wayfarer issues. I am hoping for a manual review once the Niantic staff is back in the office this week.
I would think the wayfarer staff would be able to respond during the working week and may be able to send a direct message with more information
You didnt mention what it was you did to cause the ban? There should be information within the email. Your post has a lot of information about your Pokemon Go playing history but doesnt mention Wayfarer.
If you think the ban was incorrect, you can appeal with evidence to that effect. If it was correct, I am not sure what could be done, other than acknowledge the mistake and apologise for it, but bans/supensions are usually only overturned with more evidence that the ban itself was incorrect and the nomination didn’t break rules. I’m afraid your Go spending and XP gains wouldn’t be considered evidence, it would be more about showing how your submission didn’t break any rules. For example proof that something deemed inaccurate or fake was in fact real.
I hope that helps a little till you wait for staff to reply
These don’t mean anything in regards to Wayfarer. You don’t get to ignore the rules just because you spend money.
If you’ve been told it’s for Wayfarer violations, and haven’t had any previous suspensions on the ladder ( Wayfarer Abuse Enforcement Ladder Policy — Wayfarer Help Center ) then I would think whatever has happened was severe as they can leap up to the final one which is noted as below
Ladder steps 4: 10 years Suspension
Disciplinary actions:
If this punishment is issued, you will:
receive an email to the email address associated with your Wayfarer account informing you that we have detected abusive activities on your account and that you have been suspended.
Be suspended from all our games and from Wayfarer for a duration of 3650 days. When attempting to log into the game, you’ll be presented with a message stating that your account is suspended. You will not be able to bypass this message.
As others have mentioned, when cases like this are raised on the forums, typically Niantic staff will send you a Direct Message but you may need to wait until Monday for that.
The intent (I believe) behind the game suspensions and Wayfarer suspensions being linked is to stop users violating TOS/breaking rules on either platform/app, as they would know their game account/Wayfarer account is at risk if they did so. I think it is a good deterrent to stop cheating and abuse personally.
As for this point
I get it. Many people play games for a bit of escapism and to help them. I would suggest speaking to your therapist if you have one about other ways you can help to improve your mental wellbeing after this, or if you don’t (therapy is expensive!), talk to your family and friends who don’t play and see what tools they use.
You also seem to be saying that “Errors” with Wayfarer should not affect Pokemon Go.
Anybody that “cheats” Wayfarer is doing it to “cheat” in the games so it is correct that warnings / suspensions / bans should affect both.
Although it is possible it is rare that a “1st Offence” especially 1 through Wayfarer would warrant a full ban so it is likely that you have received prior warnings and decided to continue to risk your account. If this is the case then you have only yourself to blame.
If there has been extenuating circumstances then Good Luck with any appeal.
Thank you @PkmnTrainerJ for the detailed explanation of the ladder policy. I understand that spending or XP doesn’t grant immunity from rules. My point was to show my long-term commitment and the fact that jumping straight to a permanent ban without any prior suspensions feels like an extreme escalation.
Regarding the social aspect: This isn’t just about ‘pixels’. For 9 years, this game has been my primary social outlet and the reason for daily physical activity. I’ve built a real-life network of friends through this journey, and losing the account means losing that daily connection with my community.
After reaching 1 Billion XP, ‘starting over’ is not an option. I value the time and effort I’ve put into this account too much. I’m looking forward to a manual review on Monday to discuss a fair resolution—specifically, a permanent ban from Wayfarer while preserving my Pokémon GO history.
For your own wellbeing as you noted it earlier, what’s your plan if things don’t go the way you want and the suspension remains, which I suspect will be the case?
I think it’s worth some time thinking on that probable outcome.
In addition
The policy is clear this can happen.
This policy may provide offenders with disciplinary actions proportional to the severity of the offenses they perform. This means that a first time offender can be punished with any of the disciplinary actions listed below depending on how severe their offense was.
At this point please be patient and wait for a member of the Wayfarer Team.
If you have appealed using the link referred to then a human will have checked, considered and responded.
If you wish to share details of the wayfarer activity that caused the sanction then the community here can advise.
The best advice is to be open and transparent in any appeals you make.
Your commitment to playing is not a line of evidence that will be considered. You need to start by recognising that by manipulating the game board via wayfarer you were giving yourself an in game advantage. That was against the Terms of Service. That is the crucial point here and it is worth considering that before you appeal or discuss with the Wayfarer Team.
If you are comfortable, please share the suspension email and screenshot of your nomination that trigger this suspension. Depending on severity, its possible to skip lower punishment and jump on higher ladder abuse system.
Personally i dont think this is fair. Its like you are ditching wayfarer for a pass from pogo suspension because you dont want it anymore. I think you really need to think harder if you think that you can skip pogo suspension just because of this. Personally i also got suspension before. Getting pogo suspension is what really woke me up. So i dont think pogo suspension is avoidable (if you are guilty) because it wont be fair for other people. I dont know how severe is your violation, but so far i didnt see anything that can be used to lessen your suspension. Showing off your xp and money only work in opposite way imho.
But yet you’re still trying to get preferential treatment by saying this:
That is not how the system works. You agreed to abide by the ToS when you created a Pokémon Go account, and those same ToS cover your activities across Wayfarer as well. Wayfarer is not a secondary activity. It’s as much a part of Niantic Scopely as any of their other products or services.
I’m not entirely sure what you’ve done, as you’ve not actually stated what you did wrong, but if they’ve gone straight for the harshest punishment with no prior warnings or suspensions, that suggests the abuse committed was something pretty severe, and you should’ve known that something like this could occur as a result of your actions.
The last thing I’d like to add to this conversation is that all suspensions and bans are processed by humans. So, while you’re asking for “human review,” the reality is that you’ve already had a human review. There is an appeal process - that is really what you’re asking for.
