Every Gravestone I have submitted is being rejected! I have read the criteria. It says a gravestone can be eligible for consideration if it is publicly accessible and belongs to a historical figure or significant community figure. Each one I have submitted have met this criteria. Including the inventor of Pepsi Cola, and famous artist who painted portraits of Presidents George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.
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Can you share screenshots of your nominations including the pictures you’ve used and the text you’ve submitted?
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The titles are too long and too descriptive. Titles should be shorter. I would have either just went with the name, William Joseph Williams, or William Joseph Williams Gravesite, for example.
The only issue with the description for the Williams gravesite is the last sentence, as I see it as influencing reviewers. That information should be saved for the supporting info, not the description, as not all cemeteries are accessible and safe, and saying so in the description isn’t the best thing to do.
For the Bradham description, there are some grammatical errors. For example, it should be Caleb Bradham, inventor of Pespi-Cola in the first sentence instead of Caleb Bradham-inventor of Pepsi cola. Pepsi-Cola should be kept capitalized, as it’s the official name, same with Brad’s Drink, just based off what I’ve found online. I would also capitalize Naval Reserve, maybe even write it as US Naval Reserve.
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That one isn’t centered, so it got rejected by ML because it didn’t know what it was looking at
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I don’t think the photo was the cause of rejection. The photos are fine to me, a they can be taken a little from the side.
Almost everything I’ve nominated that has a window that could show my face I take from an angle, so my reflection doesn’t show up.
The gravestone being nominated was the one at the bottom, and there were many other gravestones in the picture
The large stone in the photo says “Williams” at the top of it, so no, not an issue with the photo. I’m thinking there may be a few members of the Williams family buried here, not just William Joseph, which is not uncommon for older gravesites.
Just realized that, but still, since there are multiple gravestones in the picture, maybe ML thought it was a sensitive location
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Yes, it’s possible that ML rejected them for being sensitive locations, but these are over 50 years old. The Caleb Bradham grave is also listed on Google Maps, and the photo shows that people do leave Pepsi bottles there, similar to the grave featured in the criteria clarification.
A “Wayfarer criteria” rejection normally indicates this was an ML (machine learning ai) rejection, and you can check if the email mentions “our team” to be certain. ML appears to go mainly by the photo in my experience. We have seen it accept gibberish when the submitter forgot to edit. I don’t think the titles are the issue. I don’t know how to suggest you frame a gravestone photo, and think that appealing was the right way to go for this. Please let us know how it goes.
Addressing the Pepsi one: when I search on the words you used, it looks like you have copied and pasted the Wikipedia article, then changed a few words. You should write your description in your own words. Caleb Bradham - Wikipedia
I honestly don’t know if that is too close to be accepted.
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Thank you all for the insight and tips!
The 1st picture for the Williams grave I took at an angle to try and get in the “Williams” plot marker and his grave.
Caleb Bradham’s grave is on Google map and usually Pepsi bottles there! Trying to get photos of it yesterday evening was difficult trying to keep the shadow of my hand and phone out of them.
I will submit them again!
I research all of this before hand and type everything up and take with me when I go out to nominate. I’ve have done 30 nominations this week. A lot keep getting rejected.
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One possibility is ML auto-rejects anything with the word Grave or Cemetary in title. Despite the fact that they might be eligible under Explore exception.
Perhaps Title
“Inventor of Pepsi”
Description
Resting Place of a Caleb Bradham the famous inventor of Pepsi
Same thing for other one.
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That is a good idea!
Thank you! Hadn’t thought of that!
I had no idea that was being used for reviewing! Wow…
It is awesome when it recognizes what you have submitted as eligible. Accepts in 24 hours! But frustrating when it doesn’t think what you are submitting is eligible.
Welcome @MayMayJennifee
Thanks for asking your questions, and don’t worry if lots of people join in answering with different viewpoints some things are not clear cut in Wayfarer 
First if the rejection happens very quickly, around 24 hours, and the rejection email refers to our team then it was an auto reject by the machine learning program, nickname Emily.
This means a human hasn’t had a chance to review all the facts. So appealing is likely to be best way forward.
There is some great general advice about crafting a nomination in this topic
Personally I like the close up of the gravestone more, maybe not quite that close but I can read the details on it. This is probably an area of personal preference.
Gravestones because they are in cemeteries are going to be looked at closely to ensure that it is respecting the location, and they are important.
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