I am writing to formally appeal a 30-day suspension of my Wayfarer and Pokémon GO accounts. This penalty was issued based on the “Enforcement Ladder,” implying a repeat offense. However, I can demonstrate that the initial “first strike” was a system error and the second was a minor human mistake during the submission process.
Erroneous First Warning: “Der bunte Lebensbaum” (Jan 14, 2026) The Issue: This nomination was rejected, and I received a warning for “Harassment” and “Abuse/Abusive Content.” The Reality: I am attaching the original photo of “Der bunte Lebensbaum.” As you can see, it is a harmless, artistic mural of a tree. There is absolutely nothing “harassing” or “abusive” about this artwork. The Error: Flagging this as “Abuse” was a clear error by the reviewers or the automated system. This warning should never have been placed on my account and should not be used to escalate my punishment level.
Second Case: “Historisches Wappenrelief” (Mar 22, 2026) The Issue: A 35-meter discrepancy between the pin and the actual location. Explanation (Human Error): I collect my nominations on-site and submit them later from home to ensure stable upload conditions. In this case, I made a manual error while placing the pin on the satellite view from my home location, accidentally placing it on the wrong house wall (approx. 35m offset). No Intent of Abuse: This was a purely clerical human error during the remote submission process, not a deliberate attempt to manipulate cells.
Conclusion: Since the first strike (“Lebensbaum”) was a complete error, escalating a minor 35m location mistake to a 30-day game ban is entirely disproportionate. I am a dedicated player who acted in good faith. This experience has been deeply disheartening, and I have decided to stop submitting Wayspots entirely to avoid further risks to my account caused by such inconsistencies.
I kindly request a Community Manager to:
Manually review the “Lebensbaum” case and remove the “Abuse” flag from my history.
Lift the 30-day suspension, as I am not a repeat offender.
Account Details:
Trainer Name: Token3108
Location: Scuol, Switzerland
Thank you for your time and for reviewing the facts.
It is not always obvious where the best place is to post on this foru.
I am moving this to General Discussion as that is the best place for queries over sanctions.
What usually occurs is that a member of the Wayfarer Team will initiate a DM within this forum structure to discuss details of your case.
As a general point please do re-read the enforcement ladder policy. It is not a sequence of strikes. Depending on the severity of the offence the sanction imposed can go to any point on the ladder.
The initial warning is standard text for a range of possible issues and not all of the listed issues.
The most common reason reported here is the use of a third party photo, but the DM may give details.
If you are comfortable with sharing full detail of the nonination that give warning, we can guess if there is anything wrong with it (we are just fellow wayfarer like you) alternately u can wait staff to initiate DM
Thank you for your reply! I am happy to share the details because I have nothing to hide and I am looking for an honest assessment. The main point of my frustration: Even if you find a reason why the mural was rejected, the Support Team sent me an email claiming I was warned for “Incorrect Location” on this specific nomination. But as my screenshot shows, the system actually flagged it for “Abuse/Harassment”.
These are two completely different categories. This inconsistency proves that my 30-day ban (which was triggered as a “second offense” for location) is based on a false record.
I am happy to wait for a staff member to initiate a DM to provide more account-specific data if needed.
We certainly understand your concern. However, you were previously warned on Jan 14, 2026, for submitting a nomination at the incorrect location, which is a violation. This warning was sent for the nomination titled “Der bunte Lebensbaum” as it was submitted at the incorrect location, away from the object it represents. Even after the warning was shared, you continued to violate the nomination system by submitting yet another nomination titled “Historisches Wappenrelief” on Mar 22, 2026, under the same violation “Nomination Misplacement”. As a result of the second violation, your game and Wayfarer accounts have been suspended.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to overturn this action at this time. Your suspension will end on May 06, 2026. You are welcome to log-in back to your game and Wayfarer accounts once the suspension is lifted.
The photo of ‘Der bunte Lebensbaum’ was taken by me personally on-site. The original file contains the GPS EXIF metadata, which proves beyond any doubt that I was standing exactly at the coordinates of the nomination.
There was no ‘Location Abuse’ and no ‘Photo Abuse.’ The object is there, I was there, and the pin was correct. This confirms that the first strike was a system error.
Because the first strike was a mistake, using it to escalate a minor 35m offset on a different nomination to a 30-day ban is logically and procedurally flawed. I am happy to provide the original file to a Niantic Staff member to verify the metadata."
The metadata in the photo would show where the photo was taken, but wouldn’t necessarily show where the POI is, which is what matters.
Both of your warnings were for location errors. If you want community advice, please post the details of the first submission (which you are saying was not mislocated) including a snapshot of the coordinates (these are below the photos in the initial submission receipt email).
Thank you for the feedback. As requested, I have pulled the exact coordinates from the original photo’s EXIF metadata to prove my location was accurate.
GPS Coordinates of the mural: 46.79786386111112, 10.304738861111131 Location: Scuol, Switzerland.
As you can verify on the map, this pin is placed directly on the building where the mural is located. There is zero offset.
This confirms:
The initial rejection for “Abuse/Harassment” was a 100% false positive by the system.
The Support claim that this was a “Location Error” is factually incorrect.
Since the first strike was an error, the 30-day suspension for a subsequent minor 35m manual error is completely disproportionate. I am a local contributor providing accurate data, not someone trying to abuse the system.
I hope a member of the @Niantic-Team can now see that the “Enforcement Ladder” was applied based on a faulty record and will lift the suspension.
To the fellow Wayfarers asking for my submission receipt: Since I am currently locked out of my account, I cannot access the dashboard or older logs easily.
However, a Niantic Community Manager CAN see exactly where I placed the pin. > I have provided the photo and the exact GPS metadata of where that photo was taken (46.797864, 10.304739). I am 100% confident that my pin was placed on that exact building.
I am now waiting for a Staff member to:
Compare my submission pin with the photo metadata I provided.
Explain why a mural of a tree was flagged as ‘Harassment/Abuse’.
Recognize that the 30-day ban is based on a faulty ‘first strike’ record.
I have provided all the evidence a player can possibly provide from outside a banned account. Now it’s time for a manual internal review.
You are not locked out of your emails. Please use the initial submission receipt email to provide the information that community members are requested.
I simply do not have the email anymore since it’s from several months ago.
The proof of the location and the pin I placed is in my Wayfarer account records. However, I cannot access the dashboard to show you because of the 30-day ban I am currently appealing.
A Niantic Staff member has access to these records and can easily verify that the pin matches the photo metadata I provided. I will wait for their response.
