I would like to thank everyone who voted for my question and the Wayfarer team for their answers. It might be beneficial to conduct a forum survey to gather representative examples from various countries of existing Wayspots that do not meet the suitability criteria. We have seen resolutions for similar issues, such as the survey markers in Australia and the fire hydrants in Japan. I look forward to future progress.
Regarding Generic Businesses, the most crucial factor for Wayfinders, as a matter of course, should be whether a location is worthy of being introduced to many Niantic game players, based on its potential to be a good Wayspot. Whether it is a chain store, a franchise, or a local cafe/restaurant, the decision should be based on how effectively the submitter showcases the role it plays in its community.
Despite the previous removal of rejection criteria for chain and franchise stores, there is still a conflict in the review flow regarding the existence of āGeneric Businesses.ā I hope this will be resolved through improvements to the review flow, but I would appreciate it if you could clarify this point once more so that the majority of Wayfinders can understand it clearly.
Now, I would like to mention one more thing.
I am highly anticipating the addition of very appealing features to Web Submissions and Edits. For instance, being able to verify the location of a submission using Street View, not just satellite imagery, should significantly reduce location errors. Furthermore, removing the distance restriction would allow us to take photos while traveling and submit the candidates after returning home. That would be extremely convenient.
However, I want to proactively voice one major concern. As some may know, the Wayfarer App was previously misused, and in Japan, it was used for extremely malicious pranks.
One example was the abuse of description edits. Perpetrators used āNlANTlCā (using a lowercase āLā to mimic an uppercase āIā) to impersonate Niantic and issued a fake call to approve all nominations. Another example involved submissions entering the review queue with inappropriate titles and descriptionsāones that were not even anticipated to be on any NG word listāand images of gruesome accident scenes or criminals. Location edits were even abused to force reviewers to see these provisional Wayspots. I am sure those who committed these pranks are now reading this comment and chuckling to themselves.
While relaxing the Wayfarer participation requirements has allowed us to welcome new Wayfinders, it has also enabled abusers to produce disposable accounts through multi-accounting. They will undoubtedly also employ location spoofing for submissions and edits.
Please take measures to prevent the recurrence of the problems that occurred with the Wayfarer App. I understand that Emily, who donāt have been at that time, is likely helping to resolve these issues, but we must ensure these valuable new features, which benefit many people, do not risk being halted or suspended again.
Hi @ScrawnyMeowth1 Happy to add more about this. Most previously issued clarifications have been republished in the most recent Criteria Clarification collection and provide an example framework when thinking of how nominations of a certain type could meet (or not meet) criteria. This collection supersedes any statements made about the eligibility of specific object types in the past.
We will be looking to incorporate more into the Criteria pages and Help Center in future updates so that there is no need to look for historic clarifications. Please keep in mind only those that are still relevant will be carried forward and at that point all others will become invalid. There is no timeline on this as itās not a core part of the Wayfarer roadmap and will need to find a place among the other aspects weāve already committed to. In summary, we donāt have a wiki-like page with every piece of guidance since 2019 so we cannot say if all of them are still valid or not. Please use your best discretion until further guidance is provided.
@cyndiepooh Hope this answers your question about the matter as well.
Thanks for sharing how you feel and apologies our response invoked this reaction. Unfortunately, weāre unable to discuss General Business clarifications, specific exampels, etc any futher at this time. Please use the most recent clarificaiton criteria to the best of your capabilities. With this said, I think we can look at other ways to make it clearer such as in the tool tip, rethinking the removal criteria, and the introduction of the last question (the rejection question). Hope this helps for the time being.
I see. Regarding staff decisions that you feel are poor, please continue to share those in the forum for us to look into. At this time we wonāt be introducing a formal appeal process to the appealsā¦ i fear this would create an appeal chain that would be endless.
This will be helpful. How should we proceed until then? Specifically, are Instagram tags allowed in the text that shows on a Wayspot? Is it abuse to try to force which Pokestop turns into a gym?
And will NOT being listed in this new list mean it is okay to do?
Great question. For version 1 of the map, weāll include all approved Wayspots and will consider including others in V2. At this time we do know that rejected nominations and edits will not appear on that map. Regarding photos, yes, all approved photos will be visible when looking at a selected Wayspot.
Lastly, yes, itās very likely that the map will be read only for V1. The ability to submit edits is still being considered when it comes to the proximity, no solid answer for that yet. There wonāt be a traditional beta testing but hands-on demonstrations are planned for both Go Tours in 2026, which (although not true Beta testing) will give attending users the chance to test the product and provide feedback directly to the staff on site.
Yes, we consult our Ambassadors during the ideation or draft 1 phase for many of our new and updated tools or features. Itās important to clarify that, much like with feedback from our internal teams, we gather input, compare it with additional feedback and our own data, and then decide on the best course of action. While Ambassador feedback is highly valued, there are times when we choose a different direction that better fits the situation for a variety of reasons.
Again, I will reiterate your community voted on this, seeing issues with the current content. Iād certainly hoped for a better response than pointing us to the clarification weāve all already seen. I thought the question and content behind was clear enough to have been clarified adequately with the original timeline of the AMA.
If you claim that the Criteria Clarification collection represents the latest interpretation, then please proceed to translate them ASAP. These have remained untranslated for over a year since their publication, hindering the understanding of Wayfinders whose native language is not English.
