I don’t understand why have banned for this reason, how this image is malicious?
Does your team really check carefully when someone is reported for a nomination?
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I do note that the image is copied from this page - Chùa Đại Giác 大覺寺, 542/1 Nguyễn Huệ, Phường 9, Sóc Trăng - using somebody else’s picture is not allowed.
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As @shritwod says, using third party photos is a violation of the Photo Guidelines
The following should not be submitted and, when reviewing, should be considered as rejection criteria:
Copyrighted and 3rd party photos (e.g. watermarked stock photos and photos from maps sites)
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So if I have updated the image to google and then can’t use that image again??? It’s so ridiculous. They are all photos that I took?? Do I have to go back there and take another photo? I’m playing the game, not being controlled by the game, okay
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You downloaded the linked image he provided and used it in your Wayfarer submission. This is an act that is damaging to Niantic. Niantic will have no choice but to respond to any claims for unauthorized use of the images, and Niantic may seek retroactive payment of compensation from you. You have made a serious mistake.
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I should point out with regard to the image that the leaves on the trees, the shape of the flag, and the sky in the background all match. No doubt you have downloaded a third party image and used it for your submission.
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Even if you took the photo yourself originally, you should not re-use it in Wayfarer if it has been used elsewhere. There’s no way for Niantic/Scopely to know that you have - in effect - licensed the photo for use in Wayfarer.
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Remember that submissions through wayfarer are intended to be anonymized. That means that a reviewer would have no way of knowing whether this image was being submitted by the person who took the photo, or whether it was just being stolen from another website. Stolen photos are quite common in wayfarer.
If it really is your photo and you can prove this, you might be able to get your ban overturned, but in any case, if you intend to upload a wayspot in future, make sure you use unique photos for it that you haven’t used anywhere else online, as they will show up in a reverse image search, and like I said, due to the anonymized nature of wayfarer submissions, it’s not really possible for a reviewer to verify if they are actually your photos or whether you’ve just stolen them.
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For example, you are the one who took those photos and uploaded them to many websites and Google.
Because of the distance and busyness, you cannot go there and maybe because of many people or bad weather
And if you want to nominate, take the photos from the library and upload them, right?
If not, then ask NIANTIC to remove that **** section, what the hell is it for? If it only has the line “take photo” then ok, I will comply and take it again
Mod Edit to remove inappropriate word
We always go to the shoot ourselves. I submit public art in parks where we gather with hundreds of people to submit public art, but in order to shoot before the crowds gather, I get up at 4 am, ride my bike for 40 minutes, shoot when no one is around, and submit wayspots. It’s a no-brainer.
It’s quite clear that you can’t use other people’s photos. This means you can’t use photos you have uploaded to public websites because no-one can tell they are your own photos.
If you really can’t get back to a location, then take multiple photos at the time, reserve one for the wayspot submission, and upload other photos to websites.
The photo you used here is at least 5 years old, based on the associated reviews on the website.
The existing photos option exists for a couple of reasons.
Sometimes you’ll go to a location and you can’t get any signal there to open your game. You might find something cool but you can’t do anything to submit it on site. So you take a couple of photos of it, and then when you get somewhere that has internet connection, assuming you’re within 10km of what you wanted to submit, you can use those existing photos you took to submit the wayspot remotely.
The other reason is that in Pokémon Go, there’s been a long standing memory leak issue that’s prevalent mostly on Android phones that specifically occurs when trying to take new wayspot photos within Pokémon Go. This causes the game to close and makes it impossible for some phones to submit new wayspots using photos taken in app, so instead you can take the photos outside of the app using your phone’s camera, and then use the existing image option to upload the photos you just took and bypass the issue with the memory leak.
It can also simply be used for convenience, if you don’t want to deal with all the submission stuff whilst you’re out and about.
In all cases you should still be using photographs you took yourself, and that you haven’t used anywhere else online.
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You might also want to crop the image to remove unwanted elements, or alter brightness/contrast/saturation or apply an HDR filter if the lighting is poor. Additionally, if you resubmit a rejected wayspot (after improving it), you can use the existing photo that you submitted the first time around.
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Then continue to play the game (once ban is lifted).
If you want to possibly add a wayspot this is totally separate to playing the game and there are certain rules we all have to adhere to if this is our wish.
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It’s best not to post any photos that you take for Wayfarer and upload them to a 3rd party website until those nominations have been approved. I tend to upload some of my photos to Google Maps, but only after my nominations and edits are accepted, not while they’re in queue/voting.
As for the ban, you’ll have to contact staff via the link in the email, or below:
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You have to abide by the rules of the game and in this case the rules and guidance for wayfarer. The rules apply to all and individuals can’t just ignore the rules that don’t suit them.
If you don’t abide by the rules you will find that you will be subject to a sanction.
Please do file an appeal. Cite your evidence. You might get a quick auto acknowledgment but a member of the team will review the case.
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The oder of operations doesnt change whatever legalities the company may have with 3rd party photos. There have been reported cases where sanctions and photos have been removed withbthis scenario. (This post is for informational purposes).