I don’t go to bars because I’m not interested in meeting drunks. Similarly, I don’t go to churches because, well… those aren’t my people either.
There really isn’t much of a place to meet my neighbors around here. You literally cannot walk up to someone’s door and knock without risking being shot or attacked by dogs. I was reading about a local case just this morning where a woman was delivering a paycheck, was invited on to the property, and was still mauled by a dog. No legal charges filed. No civil suit because no legal charges filed. Dog not put down.
Yard sales. And the mailboxes. Those are the two places I’ve found. I don’t “hang around” the mailbox but when I’m there I do make a point of reaching out to say “hello” and self introduce. Unlike nearly every other place in the world, I’ve not yet been turned down or turned away for reaching out in that way in that place. I can’t self introduce to other people at the yard sale either, only the people running it, or anyone who hops into a conversation I’m already having with the host.
So what you’re telling me is that the local place I’ve found to be social, to meet people I didn’t previously know, people who clearly have at least one minor commonality, doesn’t qualify as a social spot.
I don’t play baseball. I don’t think I’ve every actually met anyone on a baseball diamond. But I can still see how baseball diamonds qualify as eligible. You don’t like to socialize at your mailbox. Ok. Fine. Why does that disqualify it?
I’m trying to understand something about your argument for this mailbox area. You have advocated for it because you feel comfortable saying hi to folks there and chatting.
How long do you spend there on average? Do you get your mail and go home if no one else is around? Do you wait for other neighbors to show up? Or are there other people waiting there to say hi to you and others? If so, how long do people spend there? A couple minutes? Half an hour?
My question is if it is a great place for you and others? If so, you need to clearly express that in your nomination.
@cyndiepooh had an area with a bench that helps show people are encouraged to congregate there. This would help you to show this is an area go to be social.
Other areas like this may have neighborhood notice boards. In this case I would add exploring to my supplemental information as well.
Those are entirely different questions. And you seem to be presuming that there are places where any of those things are true, which isn’t my experience.
The bottom line is that it’s the best place I’ve found so far. Does that make it great? Comparatively, yes.
To be completely transparent, I’m not necessarily arguing that gang mailboxes should categorically be eligible. My sincere reason for posting is to try to understand people’s thinking on any of these categories because it clearly doesn’t match mine. It doesn’t have to, of course, but if I’m to have any success at creating portals at all, I’ll need to learn something about it.
What I think I’m learning is that the big, unanswered question is “for whom”?
Baseball diamonds aren’t exercise nor social centers for me. City parks aren’t safe for me because there’s too much crime, too many uncontrolled dogs, etc. But rural roads are fine places to walk for me because I’m an adult, there’s very little traffic, and I’m not drunk.
City parks are ok to ingress in cars, which is fine. And I’ll do that sometimes but my main reason for continuing to play the game is exploration and walking.
Gang mailboxes are social centers for me but that doesn’t matter because… well, honestly, I haven’t figure that out yet. I hear that they aren’t for several of you but I haven’t figured out what makes us different on that front.
I am trying to help with my questions. I was trying to understand if the mailboxes are the effective ‘central hub’ of your neighborhood. Sometimes it’s a pool or a neighborhood community center. But if people do truly go there to spend time talking with their neighbors and friends it could meet the social Eligibility Criteria.
I think a great example is Barber Shops. Many can be a social hub of a neighborhood. But in other neighborhoods, people just go there for the hair cutting service and leave as soon as possible. They aren’t going there to be social or explore. It’s purely for the service.
Please be careful when you use the word ‘categories’. Part of the Pokemon Go nomination flow asks for categories to be added. These do not equate to things being eligible.
They really are a central hub in this area. No, people don’t hang out there but there is no other place that they hang out either. They do take the opportunity to say “hello” and to chat when they run into each other here, even if they were previously strangers. Afaict, that doesn’t happen anywhere else around here.
There are a lot of these gang boxes around. It would probably triple the number of portals in this area if they were eligible.
Do people go here / hang out here if they are not grabbing their mail?
You would need to explain how it’s more than just being polite and that people do really go there (or anything you nominate under Social eligibility) to spend time with others.
IMO a great place to be social has to draw people to a specific place and they want to stay there and spend measurable time with their friends (or whoever they are engaging with).
It’s more than polite. They do chat for some time. 10-20min is common.
They also self introduce to strangers. I’d include that as a test for a “social” place.
Contrast to the grocery stores where people only greet folks they know and they don’t really chat.
There are some folks who go here and hang out in good weather. Sorta. It’s a popular destination for walkers and families with children on push toys or bikes. Only hearty adults in colder weather.
Mine is literally over a mile away and I’m not the furthest. I’m not talking about apartment complex boxes here.
Just a tip. If you are focusing on the Social eligibility I would not bring up the distance, walkers, or heartiness of the people. That has nothing to do with being social.as it seems like these would be notes for exercise. And I don’t think this is a good candidate for exercise eligibility.
I was just re-reading our conversation and realized that I had missed the above. Because people do not hang out there, this will not be eligible as a place to be social. And it does not meet exercise or exploration categories either. I am sorry.
But I think we did whittle down some good things for you to look for in a place to be social:
A place where people go and congregate
A Place where people introduce themselves (I really like that you identified that one, it hadn’t occurred to me)
A place where people spend a measurable amount of time hanging out and engaging with others
This is part of being social, but i feel like this whole conversation has focused too much on meeting new people. The vast majority of things i nominate for the socialize criterion are places i would go with friends i already know.
I believe another term for them is cluster or multi-point delivery mailboxes. It’s often regulated that new builds have to use these as they greatly improve mail delivery efficiency.
In my opinion they would be great as they are required to be ADA compliant and well lit. In my area they double as make shift community message boards as there are usually regulations that they are somewhat sheltered from weather and people post notices or missing cat posters. You could also consider the archaic act of sending and receiving correspondence to be social.
I took this as an exercise to break down requirements in a straight forward manner. I should clarify that this does not necessarily represent a completely accurate or full set.
But it did get us thinking and evaluating things to look for.
And yet, earlier you said that you don’t hang out waiting to meet new people at social locations either. These would seem to be contradictory.
I’ve been racking my brain for a day now. I can find only one example in my personal life, stories I’ve heard from friends, or even in stories, tv, or movies. And that’s singles bars.
Although… gang mailboxes do, in fact, meet all three.
If you already know them then isn’t that an interpersonal interaction? That’s the psychology and sociology definition, along with being at group of at least (arguably) three people, or more clearly, four.
Honestly, I can’t think of anything I’ve ever done that would qualify by your definition.
Where do you go with your friends to hang out? A tasty restaurant or cafe? A park? A concert venue? A community center? The best examples are where you already go and enjoy time with people in your life.
I don’t think I said anything bad about meeting people at social locations. But meeting new people is only one aspect of a great place to be social.
I mean, I go to concerts to hear the band. I go to restaurants to eat. I go to parks and community centers to hack portals. I don’t go anywhere to socialize.
Socializing is like paying money. Nobody likes to pay money but it’s what you have to do if you want groceries, utilities, new clothes, etc. You might like to eat, be warm, and dress but you have to pay for those things to have them.
Socializing is similar. It’s a nasty cost that must be paid in order to achieve some things in life. If I want to farm level 8 portals I’ll need to find seven other level 8s to make them. It’s a necessary prerequisite. A chore required to reap the benefit.
Okay. I understand you better. In that case I would say you should not try and nominate things under the Social eligibility. You prefer not to socialize so it’s hard for you to identify great places to do that which are not Single Family Private Residential Property (SFPRP).
For you a better option might be to find places that are cool to explore in your community. That can easily be done on one’s own. Things like historical markers, murals, and even unique shops could fit under exploration eligibility.
We could also happen to meet someone at the generic lamp post at the neighborhood entrance, where we turn around on our walk.
Or on a stretch of sidewalk.
Or at a big tree with shade on a summer day.
But these things weren’t created with the purpose of being a place to be social.
Just because a place has a few incidental “Hellos” exchanged does not make it a “great place to be social.” If that were the qualification, then there are no restrictions on what can be a wayspot. Any place on the planet would do. And that’s not the database Niantic is trying to build.
No, the things I see happening at my local gang mailbox DO NOT happen at the places you’ve listed; not around here, anyway. There’s something magic about the gang mailbox that I haven’t figured out. People DO self introduce and they do not take offense when other people do. They DO talk for tens of minutes. They DO NOT shoot firearms or sic dogs on their neighbors here. And these things happen routinely, every week, even in bad weather.
We’re not talking about trivial waves. We do that between cars in this area.
You might need to talk to someone about that. No, not all people hate socializing. I don’t particularly like Niantic trying to force me to socialize with random strangers. But, i like to socialize with my friends. And I’m basically an introvert. People generally like spending time with their loved ones.