so the platform just labeled me an ‘excellent Wayfarer,’ yet here I am, restricted for another 24 hours… for the second time. Apparently being good at this isn’t enough—can anyone make sense of this?
The only cooldown I have ever received was a 24 hour one while I was also at a Great rating. The only thing that I could think of that might have triggered it is that I walked away and let nominations time out many times the day before and that day because of other stuff I was doing. Try to always use the option to stop reviewing when you submit the last one for a bit, or navigate to the “Showcase” tab if you step away.
Otherwise, the Wayfarer Discussion Discord has this advice written up:
Cooldowns may be caused by reviewing too quickly or following voting patterns
Take your time on each nomination, edit, and photo contribution you see and avoid giving the same rating too frequently in one reviewing session. Sharing screenshots is a great way to slow down your reviews.
Cooldowns can last either 1 or 6 hours.
Are you restricted from reviewing, as in you have a 24h cooldown?
This is likely to happen if you review too fast or provide the same responses repeatedly. It’s a reasonable reaction to someone who isn’t taking the time to review properly, but it rarely feels reasonable to receive it.
The first time, I submitted several reviews in the same day, but this time, honestly, I haven’t submitted any at all.
I think you need staff to comment.
So let me get this straight—my reviews are supposedly too many or automated, yet somehow I’m an ‘excellent Wayfarer’? Makes perfect sense… not.
It has nothing to do with nominations you write up and submit. It only is based on how you are reviewing other nominations as said above.
Exactly—I’m being blocked because my reviews are supposedly too rushed, yet I’m considered an excellent reviewer? Isn’t that a contradiction, or am I just weird?
I know why it doesn’t seem to make sense.
Your rating (mine is staying stubbornly at Great, which is the highest rating, despite being fairly harsh and rejecting the vast majority of submissions, which maybe says something about the quality of submissions) is determined by how closely your decisions (reject/accept) match the final community decision on each wayspot.
You can be reviewing the same as everyone else yet still be reviewing too quickly.
As a made-up example - if you were part of a group of reviewers who just wanted to reject everything, you could review really quickly and get a Great rating.
Being an excellent reviewer means that you are in agreement with other local reviewers. You accept the same ones and you reject the same ones.
The cooldowns are based on patterns in what you thumb 
up/down and how quickly you go through reviews. And as @cyndiepooh mentioned letting reviews time out is also bad.
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Everything about this feels so strange. It seems to me that if someone actually tries to contribute to the community here, they get punished instead of rewarded… oh well.
It can feel like that at first. But I really think they are doing their best to have checks and balances to benefit both the nominator and reviewers.
You will get used to the oddities soon 
Keep up the excellent work… tomorrow
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I used to have an add-on which added a timer to my review page, so that when I clicked to accept or reject, it wouldn’t be actioned until a set amount of time had passed from starting the review. This is advised to avoid the risk of a cooldown.
Curiously, now that I have stopped using this (tech issues after ‘upgrading’ to a browser that can handle this forum), I review quicker but haven’t had a cooldown. I just sometimes have to say I am a real person. Maybe I’m skirting close to the edge, but review in short enough bursts that I don’t get hit.
:')))
exactly, I also have to confirm if I’m human
One thing that I usually suggest that I didn’t since this was a 24 hour cooldown is to use “I don’t know” if that is appropriate. Some people don’t think they should use it, but it is an acceptable answer.
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Actually once I start to see “are you human” I wonder if a cooldown could be coming, so I use that as a marker to stop.
Haven’t had a cooldown in years, but possibly because I walk away when I get that message?
I review quite fast, and probably do a lot that isnt advised (like voting the same way on several things in a row or not using “I dont know” enough), but this does seem to help
Remember last time that you left your browser tab open on the Review page? Remember that you have 20 minutes to finish a review, and if you don’t, it times out. If you have too many reviews time out, this can be seen as an abnormality in your reviewing.
Do make sure that when you are not reviewing to either close the tab, or go to a different part of the Wayfarer website, such as your profile, help, or the showcase. This will help in preventing these time outs from happening.
From my experience timing out on reviews does not cause cool downs. I review throught my work day and as a result time out on very many reviews without issue. Before skips were plentiful, many people also timed out on nominations as a form of skip. Also switching tabs or closing the page does not prevent a timeout, only way to end a session is by pressing the “Submit and finish reviewing” button. Before the implementation of this button, there was also no way to end a review session without timing out on a nomination.
Then what would you suggest as the cause of a 24 hour cooldown? The WDD tag mentions 1 and 6 hour ones. What do you think tripped the 24 hour one? That was all I could think of that I had done differently when I got mine.
(This is seeking your expertise, not an argument. I know you have studied this way more than I have.)
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