SO, I’ve finally got to level 38 and the first thing I wanted to do was change a PokeStop near where I live. The current title is for a pub that hasn’t existed in seven years… yet the title name change has been rejected? The info and the picture however, were accepted? Make it make sense!
If the business connected to the Wayspot does not exist, it should be reported for removal. Changing the Wayspot text and image to a different business in order to repurpose it is considered abuse.
@NianticAaron Is this guidance the same for murals and artwork?
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Ah, I forgot to comment about how the policy is stupid on this post, so I guess they’re enforcing it again instead of doing the sensible thing. 
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The community is struggling with how to solve this issue.
I completely understand what you are trying to do and why. Especially if it’s the same location/building and has been, let’s say, rebranded. (Assuming that the eligibility for the location has not changed)
The stance from Niantic, is that we need to request these to be removed (which has its own hurdles) and then a new nomination be made.
Whereas those of us that play the games want to UPDATE the info so that Portals or Gyms are not lost. And I suspect there could be impacts to other games, but they don’t update as often.
So I have no solution, but wanted to give some background.
I am all in favor of keeping the map up to date but this makes it complicated.
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We already received ‘guidance’ from you that a name-change on a venue was a legitimate edit.
Is every Wayfarer (and every reviewer) expected to run a Fictitious Business Name/title search, Wayspot removal or abuse report, and then re-nominate every time a pub changes its name?
The pub has not changed its name. It’s a completely different business in this case.
Here’s that copy/paste to help Aaron remember to do what’s sensible again, since it doesn’t seem to happen when I don’t post it:
Unfortunately, not everyone who makes policies at Niantic is smart. Most people would look at this and see that one church is now another churchpub is now another pub and would update the wayspot appropriately since it’s materially the same eligible thing in the same place, just with a different name.
The official stance from Niantic, which isn’t properly published anywhere, is that this is perfectly acceptable if one mural has been replaced by another mural, or by a graffiti tag, or by a single color splotch of paint, but that for any non-mural wayspots, it’s abuse to submit edits that improve the existing eligible wayspot with information about the still-eligible thing that is materially similar and currently present.
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Is the bar family friendly/ all ages or do you need to be an adult to enter?
Sensible to whom? To me its completely sensible to not assume that a business replacing another business not make it automatically eligible. Whatever made the original pub eligible does not necessarily and automatically apply to whatever its replaced by. Now what would be sensible is for this guidance to be clearly detailed and published specially if it applies differently across different types of waypoints… specially if @NianticAaron and other staff are going to be throwing in strong words like “abuse”.
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Yes, it’s family friendly! In the UK the majority of bars/pubs allow children that are accompanied by adults.
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In this case it’s completely sensible to me.
Using the word abuse for a pub name change is not great.
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If its still a pub, to me, changing the name seems a good approach?
Maybe if it changed to something completely different the delete and potentially resubmit makes more sense? Sometimes a change just means theres no eligible item.there anymore.
But a pub or restaurant just changing the name seems a lot of additional work and time to remove it and resubmit it -that could literally take years in some locations
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I’m definitely getting done for Wayfarer abuse then as I’ve changed the titles, pictures and descriptions of more than one pub.
Thinking about it I’m probably going to get the same for f*cking about with those DFB’s.
Send me a gift in prison! 
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I cant remember if I changed the pub down the road or if it actually got deleted and re submitted…
Oh thats it, the pub got sick of the pokemoners parking there for raid day so they got the gym blocked. When they changed hands and changed name etc I got it deleted and then resubmitted, which got us a new gym that people can’t drive to, as its in a park. Hehe. What a shame. The pub is a waypoint again with the new name and picture
So I guess I didnt abuse the system.
I did get kicked out of the pokemon group for suggesting that theyd annoy the pub owners by parking there… seems I was right.
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Yeah, lovely group. 
I would have done the same thing with your pub - had no idea that niantic would prefer 2x the workload instead and a long wait for everyone
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I think that niantic prefer this stony way of remove and resubmit the new, because of the safety first thought.
The first pub was reviewed by peer and changing everything it’s like pushing through a nomination without detailed proof.
If the new pub doesn’t meet any criterias, or is perhaps adults only, smokers club, table dancing… You never know
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Its a pub it caters for all ages.
It is also not that unusual that the name changes and it is not a change of business it is simply a part of a refresh by the same people to improve trade.
The majority of pubs in the UK are not owned by individual small business The pubs are owned by the brewery, and the landlords/ladies enter into a specific arrangement (there are different types) to use the pub for a business, whilst the brewery also retains a business interest in the pub. You will often see “under new management” but the pub remains the same. Sometimes it is the brewery that wants to do the branding /image change. So the “tenants” are running it but it is often the brewery that is pulling the strings.
These arrangements are often for 2-5 years so the name of a pub can change frequently - although most locals will simply keep referring to it by is oldest name.
Its not a simple or obvious picture except the reason it met criteria in the first place was that it was a place to be social and it still is.
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