My nomination was rejected, with the reasons supplied being 1) abuse, and 2) lack of uniqueness, or cultural/historical meaning.
I submitted an appeal on the 30th of May, and received a Wayfarer Warning for “Generic very low severity offense” on the morning of the 1st, with my submission being put back into voting.
I am left pretty confused:
I have received no answer on my appeal, a tool described as a way for Niantic to confirm the validity of the communitys ruling. Definitely the first time I’ve had the result of an appeal be that the nomination returns to voting, and it seems very counter-intuitive, especially since I was given a warning for the submission. I had hoped an appeal would either approve the submission, or give me a clearer understanding of why it wasn’t good enough, but now I am left with an un-clear warning for the submission, and the submission back in voting, which to me doesn’t seem like where it should be if it is off enough in some way that I am receiving disciplinary action for it.
Receiving no decision/information on the appeal, except for the warning for “Generic very low severity offense”, I am only left scratching my head more in regards to the disciplinary action. If possible, I would like to receive a DM with further details explaining why I am receiving it.
Staff should be able to send a direct message here to explain, so you came to the right place.
I believe these sorts of “art” have had a history of abuse and their small size is also problematic. To me this doesnt look significant, but being able to show documentation helps.
I believe “generic very low severity offense” counts as a warning, but staff can confirm what has happened and why.
My submission has now been moved from “In Voting” to “Appeal Rejected”, with the reasoning:
“Thanks for the appeal, Wayfinder! The nomination in question does not meet the Wayfarer criteria as this is a a public art installation titled “Fortovssouvenirs” which are generic. We recommend you review the Wayspot Criteria and Forum Criteria Discussions Library sections before submitting your next Wayspot contribution: Wayfarer — Niantic Technical Support and Help Center and Forum Criteria Discussions Library — Wayfarer Help Center”
Unfortunately, I am only left more confused by this.
First of all, this is a misunderstanding. It is a public art installation called “Eddikkefabrikken”, which is a part of a series called “Fortovssouvenirs”, which consists of 21 pieces of art that are shaped as small stones set into the sidewalks of the Sundholm neighbourhood.
Secondly, the appeal is rejected as the nomination is too generic. This confuses me, and that might of course be because I have misunderstood the rules of genericness entirely.
Generic is only mentioned two relevant times in the links as far as I can see.
In the Wayspot Criteria under Rejection Criteria:
And in the Forum Criteria Discussions Library under Unique Art or Architecture:
(and then in a few spots about businesses or streetsigns, but those seem irrelevant).
I have understood this to be that the nominated item must not be mass-produced and must not be indistinguishable from others, as taken from the relevant definition of generic from the Merriam-Webbster dictionary:
I will now show a few other pieces of the “Fortovssouvenirs” series:
“Her skete ingenting” (nothing happened here), about the non-development of this part of the neighbourhood. Photo taken from the existing Wayspot “Her skete ingenting”.
Nina Bang, a homage to the working-class roots and how the neighbourhood has traditionally had an enourmous turnout for the Social Democrats in elections. The stone bears the name of Hørdum (first Social Democrat voted into parliament), Nina Bang (first female Minister in Denmark), and Helle Thorning (first female Prime Minister in Denmark). Photo by the artist.
Sletteskønhed. This one reflects upon the story of Amager, the island where the Sundholm neighbourhood lies. Often nicknamed “Lorteøen” (The Shit Island) because it was used as a garbage dump, particularly before toilets were common-place. The artist describes that the rest of Copenhagen would see the inhabitants as “un-civilized peasants of low social status”, but notes the vaudeville “En søndag på Amager” (a Sunday on Amager) by Johanne Heiberg where she describes the beauty of the open plains and the firmament - something the artist has attempted to show with this piece, focusing on the positive sides of the island. Photo by the artist.
Comparing that to the nomination I have made, the four art pieces are part of the same series sharing an overall theme (the story of the Sundholm neighbourhood), but they highlight different aspects of that overall theme, so that each art piece in the series has a unique story to tell, and a unique visual identity. They are - in my opinion - clear attempts to use art placed in the public space to tell us the history about the neighbourhood we live in.
I will again stress that I can of course have misunderstood the “generic” criteria, but that my nomination is of a physical existing art piece in the public space that has been present since 2013, that tells a unique story, that is visually unique and both distinguishable from other objects in the nearby area, and easily distinguishable from other art pieces in the same series - this does not line up with what I would expect the “generic” criteria to cover. Going back to the Merriam-Webbster definition, I believe that my nomination is of an element that does have a particular distinctive quality, which would be the opposite of generic.
Going back to the Rejection Criteria, I still maintain that my nomination is of an object that is not mass-produced, and that the object is visually unique.
If the generic term is truly meant to exclude a series of 21 visually unique art pieces, I do hope that you would consider revising the current wording or expanding on it. I don’t think I can say whether or not my nomination is generic, as my understanding of what would fall under the “generic” rule is clearly quite different from this. I hope that a member of staff will still be able to DM me with an explanation for my warning, and I would be very grateful to have the “generic” rule explained to me, so that I can avoid making nominations that would fall under that rule in the future.
All the best,
Jakob
Ps.
Thank you for your comment, frealafgb. I would just like to note - not to be pedantic, but for precision - that I believe we should simply call this art, not “art” - with the pieces being official municipality-supported pieces of art legally set in place in the public space with media coverage, not illegal graffiti, guerilla art or something similar. We can of course discuss if it is bad art or good art - or worthy of being a Wayspot - but I would just like to be expressly clear about the nature of the piece(s), and not have them lumped in with “art” made in an effort to abuse the system.
I’m fine with “art” even if you wish to disagree. I’m generally quite easily pleased compared to a lot of wayfarers, but I can’t tell what the yellow is, and I don’t see the significance easily, which is likely why it was rejected. People do make judgements at a glance
I am not saying you did anything wrong, but the reason for the issues you’re experiencing is that these have a history of abuse associated, and the size of the PoI is also quite important and these appear tiny.
I hope staff can assist with more information soon
Yes, I am simply hoping for more information/clarification on the warning. They are not part of an official trail though @SlimboyFat71, but meant to be something you discover naturally during your everyday life in the neighbourhood, is my understanding. I do appreciate the tip however!
Certainly! Their name is Jobim Jochimsen (which is also included in the previously linked source). Their website is jobim.dk; this series appear under “Permanent Works”.
Regarding the “trail” thing, my point was that the intention is that you stumble upon the artworks, not that people go from A to B in a path (or 1 to 2 to … 21, if you will) - at least, that is my understanding. My understanding is also that one of the thoughts is then that people could use the Instagram account including geotagged photos to find more information about the piece, are discovering it. So it’s more “there is not meant to be a trail between them; the official intended way of enjoying the art pieces is to discover them naturally, and use the location and geotagged Instagram content to red more information (if you want to)”. That’s how I understand it at least - hope it makes sense :-).
Aa far as I know the “low severity warning” does not count as strike 1, this is more a “friendly warning”.
Having said that, though I personally don’t like this art, I do think it qualifies as art, and as such, instead of giving a warning, the appeal should have been succesful.
There has however also been a huge inflow of mass produced tiles, and ever since, tiles are more difficult to get accepted.
Thanks for pointing out that it doesn’t count as a Strike; I saw staff confirm it too on another post. That makes sense, but wasn’t clear to me in the first place at least :-).
I think you’ve got the correct assessment here. I do also agree that the art itself isn’t particularly interesting, and that the relevancy primarily comes via the historic and cultural connection, which I tried to put weight on in the description
Ultimately I think it’s just a bit dejecting to make a serious nomination of an artpiece, including artist credit, description of the piece plus the history behind it, and getting a rejection reason that’s somewhat unclear. I believe the meaning was that the piece is generic because it’s part of a series, but as that series consists not of objects that are indistinguishable from each other, but of 21 pieces where each unique piece has its own unique visual identity and focuses on one unique part of the neighbourhood history, I am sort of unsure if there was a misunderstanding somewhere.
But yeah, I primarily just wanted to be sure that another offense wouldn’t escalate me up the ladder, and as this warning doesn’t count as a “Warning”, I guess that’s at least ensured and I should probably just let it lie :-).
