Great, thank you. Im not taking the piss there - that is a genuine thank you, this would have been a hell of a lot easier if they hadnt deleted it.
Regardless - if thousands of Waypoints were approved incorrectly, why was this not specific clarification at the time they were being submitted so often? Why is it only being addressed now, years later? This is not a new topic, survey markers have been brought up quite often. If hundreds of Waypoints were erroneously approved, its indicative of a pretty substantial failure of clarity in guidelines.
"So NIA OPS says, âAs long as itâs on a public pathway and not on a sidewalk next to a private residence (or any other location mentioned in our Do not submit list), the 4* guideline still applies.â
Again - this is not a new discussion. If anything, the conflicting reports shows that their eligibility criteria, especially regarding changes over time, is incredibly murky.
This drives me crazy as well. I wish I knew the tipping point. I donât see a lot of survey markers here, but I do have other poi that seem to meet the âwell that got in so this must be okayâ thing.
I donât know what made them finally make a clarification on disc golf course individual tees, but they finally did, and now they are removing all the individual ones that have gone live when reported.
The point of that refresh to just the three pillars of exercise, exploration, and being social seemed to have been to make the process simpler. So I do get their hesitancy to issue clarifications. But too many of us (me!) need much more guidance than that.
I know you were hoping for an official comment by Niantic about what is going on with the markers. I doubt they will respond to this thread. But you have gathered some good information to think about if/when you choose to appeal for the return of specific markers.
I canât imagine how disappointing it would be to see more and more spots removed that had seemingly been fine before. I am not sure if youâll get the bulk of them back, but there may be some that are better representatives of the criteria.
Honestly, getting them back isnât even something I care to do. I mainly just want clarification on if itâs individuals requesting removal or if they are being automatically removed, as they are not all disappearing in one sweep, theyâve been reducing in number over a few months.
The reason I said I wanted some sort of official communication though - just look at some of the comments on this post. Every player has their own opinion on eligibility criteria as well as reasons for removal.
To be clear - Iâm not saying that they are phenomenal Wayspots and need to be reinstated. Iâm just looking for clear communication that isnât just opinion/conjecture from some random other player.
Thank you for your measured response - I knew a Niantic response was unlikely but was hoping theyâve made comment regarding something similar in the past.
My frustration also lies with issues we have had locally with essentially review rings - groups of people going into business for themselves and deliberately poorly rating submissions made by anyone outside their group. This was a MASSIVE issue with Ingress submissions, back before it was changed to Wayfarer. Many in the community here had developed a misplaced sense of authority/ownership over portal submissions - which is why Iâm wondering if itâs Niantic auto-removing, or if itâs certain people in the community rearing their heads again.
Niantic going out and doing removals unprompted Iâd estimate to be like 0.01 % of all removals. The removals you observed are very likely all user reported.
If you are having issues with malicious behaviour by some local wayfinders then you can report that behaviour and the team will look into it - Reporting Abuse in Wayfarer â Wayfarer Help Center
The team do take these reports seriously. Provide as much evidence and information as you can,
I can fully understand if past experience has lead to a situation where you are wanting to know what is the driving force behind the removals in case it is malicious. And you are correct only the team knows.
Itâs 100% someone In The Illawarra manually reporting them because there still everywhere else and donât get removed anywhere else. Clicking report pokestop and unsafe location wonât do anything either theyâre doing through the form online.
