Got a Cooldown?

General Discussion
1

I’m channeling my inner @cyndiepooh. She wrote a fantastic post about S2 cell and “Where is my Pokestop” that gets shared a lot on the forum because it’s pretty great.

I’ve been working on something that tackles another topic. Although it is not as prevalent now as it once was, but I started it and I’m compelled to finish it!

Explorers have asked about cooldowns and I’ve had some of the same questons, so I’ve scanned the forum, Reddit, Twitter and the WDD to get some of the best answers and advise and I wanted to leave it here for folks that have wondered.

If you see something widely inaccurate - let me know and I can amend this document. I’m not an excellent writer like my podcast partner @Glawhantojar, so don’t kill me over word choice and placement. Hopes this helps at least one person! - BlameJamal

Why Do Cooldowns Happen in Wayfarer?

1. Rapid Reviewing

  • If you click through nominations too quickly (especially without reading), the system assumes you’re not actually reviewing carefully.
  • Wayfarer expects you to spend a reasonable amount of time per review (usually 20–40 seconds minimum depending on the nomination – this is my personal opinion, not specifically said by Niantic/Scopely!!)

2. Inconsistent Judgments

  • If your review choices are wildly different from community consensus over and over, Wayfarer may flag you.
  • Example: rejecting playgrounds, churches, or murals that are obvious accepts.
  • This doesn’t mean you always have to agree with the crowd, but consistently misaligning raises red flags.

3. Pattern Detection

  • If you show a “robot-like” pattern (ex: always thumbs ups everything or , always thumbs downing or always skipping – I’m not 100% sure about skipping, but I’m leaving it in with the option to remove if dis-proven) Niantic/Scopely may think you’re not reviewing authentically.
  • The system is designed to discourage “rubber stamping.”

4. Mass Reviewing in One Session

  • Doing too many reviews in a very short time can trigger cooldowns.
  • The system expects reviews to be paced, not blasted through.

5. Low Agreement Rating

  • If your **Wayfarer rating ** drops, you’re more prone to cooldowns. (Some wayfarers have said this isn’t the case, but I’m going to leave it in)
  • This happens when your reviews often don’t align with how Niantic/Scopely/The community later decides.

What are some types of cooldowns?

  1. Short Cooldown – usually 4 hours, triggered by quick misclicks or speed reviewing.
  2. Long Cooldown – up to 24 hours, often for repeat offenses or very suspicious reviewing patterns.

Tips to Avoid Cooldowns

  • Take your time → Spend 30+ seconds on each nomination.
  • Read the description & supporting info.
  • Use the satellite + street view tools.
  • Mix up your choices → Don’t just reject or accept everything.
  • Skip responsibly → If unsure, skip, but don’t skip every nomination.
  • Stay consistent with criteria → Don’t reject things that clearly meet Niantic/Scopely’s eligibility rules.

Cooldowns are essentially Niantic/Scopely’s way of forcing quality over speed. If you review thoughtfully and consistently, you’ll rarely (if ever) get them.

In Conclusion

  • Follow the criteria while reviewing nominations, I always recommend keeping the eligible and ineligible criteria pages open in a different browser tab for easy access.
  • Avoid using third party tools/plugins or depending on others to decide on how you vote on a nomination.
9 Likes
2

I don’t think I should be mixing up my choices just for the sake of it. If submission is valid YES if else NO. Beside that, this a fantastic writeup and research on the probable causes.

3 Likes
3

Im sure Cyndie didn’t use ChatGPT for her write up :sweat_smile:

4

Even Gemini’s response is quite similar to this.

5

What’s wrong with using ChatGPT or Gemini to write something up?

6

Its full of irrelevant and outdated information. Inconsistent bullet points vs numbers and dashes vs arrows

3 Likes
7

These AIs also tend to give you answers you want, but not what is really needed. They tend to play up the positive over the negative.

Another issue is that it could be pulling from sources that staff may not approve of, or have any control over, such as Reddit and other social media.

You can certainly write something up and ask an AI to check the spelling, grammar, refine it a bit.

8

:up_arrow:

10

Point the inaccuracies out. Random commentary is nit helpful. Btw, bullet points are excellent way to communicate efficiently.

2 Likes
11

Sorry ill deep dive in a bit, but i dodnt mean that bullet point are bad, just that it switches from bullet points to numbers in one section. Some of the innacuracies were already changed like the use of colors for the wayfarer ratings. The types cooldowns section i wonder what data thats from because as far as ive seen we havent been able to pin down why someone gets longer cooldowns.

2 Likes
12

So, there are no inaccuracies that you can point. The why attack someone based on whether they have used AI or not. I felt that was uncalled for, from an ambassador no less.

13

There are things that in grey area. U need to use your own judgement on this matter.

14

Agreed. Thank you for objectively taking this discussion forward.

15

There have already been some ammends on it, lets work on making it look better.

3 Likes
16

That should be the goal. Glad that we agree. I hope to see your astute insights.

17

This is assuming you know what crowd choose but its not always correct.

Playground, religious place, mural can be ineligible if its inside K12. They are not exactly obvious accepts

2 Likes
18

Or could have issues with the photo, text or not existing in the location presented.

19

This was picked up by AI because it used to be said by staff at one point, the last time anything was said about plugins was only that malicious use of plug ins was not allowed.

On the contrary plug ins, like the timer, translations, alternative maps can be helpful in avoiding cooldowns.

1 Like
20

It should be pointed out that this applies to photos and edits, specially the reviewing them too fast. A lot of these can be reviewed rather quickly without realizing it.