I have a brewery by my house called “Stone Silo”, I took a photo of the actual silo and the brewery itself. The Pokestop nomination was rejected during initial submission and in appeal, with the only reason being “Private Farmland”. I told Wayfarer in appeal that this is a commercial business and gathering place, but it was still denied.
Are breweries just not good pokestop nomications?
can you show us what the appeal rejection said? i approve most brewery nominations i get but they can be very different things in different places. if for over legal drinking age only, i would not approve
edit: i looked up their website and does seem like a place i would approve https://stonesilobrewery.com/
Personally, I love nominations for breweries and wineries. In my familiarity, many are “family friendly” and host events like live music, social networking, and sponsor the local community.
I don’t investigate every candidate thoroughly, but I do prefer the candidate be “family friendly” and the nomination focus on aspects outside of alcohol. Even my favorite local brewery that hosts yoga, trivia nights, and professional networking groups would get a rejection from me if the text was solely “Great place to get drunk!”
The silo sounds intersting - I have seen some decorative and some for storing grains. At risk of pointing fault on you, I can see mistaking it for generic farming infrastructure or being associated with a farming community. Is there better signage, artwork, or a focal building that could be focused on instead?
To answer this, they certainly can be good but can also struggle with association to alcohol activities and being a “generic business” in general. I’ve also seen reports of less than favorable outcomes from Niantic reviewing breweries with misleading rejections that such establishments are ineligible, which is contradicting to legacy reviewing criteria and seems to be a strict adherence to the “adult oriented” rejection criteria - hence my earlier mention at focusing on family events. If you retry, include such details and explain how the establishment is a great place for socializing and exploration.
lol i don’t want to edit again, but maps satellite and street views definitely makes it look like private farmland, assuming i have the right brewery. definitely add links to prove it is not if you do resubmit.
It said,
“Thanks for the appeal, Explorer! The nomination in question does not meet the Wayfarer criteria as it is a regular stone silo which are very common. If this assessment is not accurate, please resubmit the nomination with additional context. We recommend you review the Wayspot Criteria before submitting your next Wayspot contribution: Wayfarer — Niantic Technical Support and Help Center”
It’s weird cause in the description I put,
“Serving as the landmark of the property since its construction around 1931, our silo represents the natural modernity we aim to bring to the brewery itself. Once integral to the farm’s daily function, the refurbished stone silo pays homage to its roots while providing inspiration for the many years of beer making to come.”
So it was very specific. I guess the Title itself wasn’t good enough
The google maps pin shows pin for “Stone Silo Brewery” right next to it, so though that would be enough. Just up the hill is the “61 Vineyard” as well. I beleive the family that owns the land either leased or sold to a finance group that launched the winery and brewery.
Like others have already stated, I think breweries can be great wayspots. A few notes that I have after reading your inputs and looking at the map:
Good luck!
To reinforce what LetsRollGirl said, the description was indeed copied verbatim from the brewery’s website, which alone is reason for rejection. Make sure you use your own words to describe the POI.
Thanks, I’m visiting this Saturday, so I will prepare some based on your tips.
They have a sign above their beer taps, but I was afraid that a Pokestop featuring beer taps would be rejected. I’ll add it as the supplimentary. If I submitted it as the primary I was going to title the submission “Golden Taps”.
I don’t recommend using the interior photo as the supporting for this one. People need to see where the silo exists since it looks like it is someone’s back yard from street view.
A note on Google tags: anyone can place them. Most seasoned reviewers don’t trust them. Especially if the area doesn’t clearly match the tag.
In addition to the interior photo issue, showing beer taps doesnt help with those people who are rejcting over it being a bar. You need to prove it is a bar and grill.
Yea, I figured beer taps would not go well.
I looked at the website to see if I could identify some area to focus on. While I didn’t, I will say that it looks like a wonderful place and I’d like to get there someday.
Photos to consider:
sign with their name by the turn in with the silo in the background, potential drawback is that sometimes those types of signs can look temporary (fold up, or canvas)
an area where they have board games or Jenga. This could go a long way to help with family friendly. But couldn’t tell from the website if they offer that. Consider bringing your own boar game and get a shot in the place with it? Drawback potentially crowded place so hard to get the photo without people, but clearly at the place.
If I come up with others I’ll add em.
I agree with your advice but not with the part where you recommend bringing objects and staging them. I’m sure you mean well but that’s both misleading and potentially “personal identifiers”.
Great point! I never meant to mislead on a nomination.
I will say that (all) the local breweries I frequent have a game section. And most are absolutely fine when we bring one of our own in. But that may not be true at the one. And that bit about personal identifiers is huge! I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me.
I would say there is a significant distinction between including a personal identifier vs. framing and staging a single photo.
It’s only when one can observe that there’s always a green rental scooter in the frame that it becomes an issue.
Otherwise, it becomes nearly impossible to make urban nominations: there are ‘signs’ of human activity everywhere.
I had tried to make their road sign a spot, but…I think it was just too close to the road and the home in the background sealed the deal on the denial.
Thank you for being open to the comment 
I would crouch down low and let the sign fill the screen straight on for the main photo.
