hello, i started playing pokemon go in april so i guess you could say i am inexperienced with both pogo and wayfarer. this thread is not for an appeal but for my own understanding~
i recently started actively looking for wayfarer nominations and i’ve had great success with hiking trails. they always get approved!
but i seem to be struggling quite alot with non-hiking trail nominations and it must be something im doing or not doing that is the problem.
this bridge was 50/50 in my eyes but i still dont understand why it wasnt accepted honestly, i would say one of the few ways of getting over the river that goes through town would be a good POI. especially since its the “cap” of a few different hiking trails. in place of this beautiful POI image i posted a hiking trail arrow thats right next to the bridge.. it’ll get approved and be another “generic” and hard to distinguish pokestop in my area.
this second bridge however i have no idea how it didnt get accepted, with the image being its date stone which has remained a part of the bridge since 1854..
ultimately though, its very frustrating having pretty much exclusively hiking trail markers as pokestops when i live in a village absolutely topped to the brim with culture and remnants from the 1100’s onwards.
The first bridge made it into community review, and reviewers did not seem to understand from your nomination why this is anything significant. From the presentation, this appears to be just a way for vehicles to cross the river. Anything you submit must meet the eligibility requirement of a great place for exercise, exploration, or beign social, and I don’t see how this does any of that.
The second bridge where you focused on the date never made it to community review. The machine learning process did not understand this to be anything that could be eligible and did not allow it into community review. From the supporting photo, I do not see how this would be eligible, either.
I don’t see the rejection reason for your restaurant, but they are difficult nominations. You must convey that it is a true destination that is worth seeking out, and not just a “Generic business.”
You have not been doing this long, so you don’t remember the days when it took months, and months, and months to get the one appeal we were given processed. I love that they are in such a good state now that they have upped it to 2 appeals on a 15 day counter before they can be used again, and have been able to keep up this pace. I don’t want to get back to the situation where we can’t get a timely review of appeals. But if it can be done with no loss in quality or quickness, I do like the idea of being able to earn appeals.
I had a restaurant approved today I disagree with some wayfarers that restaurants have to be super special or win awards or anything like that - I simply think about whether I would meet a friend there, because to me that demonstrates that its a great place to socialise. This is a restaurant I’ve personally visited with groups of friends in the past and we always enjoyed it, so I was happy it was accepted.
My suggestion with restaurants is to try to take a nice clear picture of the building frontage plus sign, and then simply describe what makes it good. They do not have to be particularly difficult, but also don’t get over confident with them, because people love to reject businesses in general (eg restaurants, gyms, spas).
Bridges - generally foot bridges and historically important bridges with pedestrian paths included do get accepted. Assuming yours have a path as well as a road, try a nicer picture- maybe from the side, showing the arch structure, and add the date stone as a supporting photo. Might help.
I also think its funny that you’re finding it’s hard to nominate anything that isn’t a trail - and lovely in a way - because not long ago trail stuff was SUCH a battle, so if you’re finding those are pretty straightforward, that’s honestly a huge step forward for Wayfarer
ah, i didnt think about the processing time of appeals, your point makes sense.
what im leaning is that i need to put more effort into my nominations rather than expecting people to investigate i have to spoon feed them some information ~ the restaurant was refused for being a generic business lol.
do you think i should rebrand my 2nd bridge nomination to just the date stone?
if i might ask you to mock review one more, how would you vote on this “house” that has been converted into commercial use. its still not a good place for socializing. but i would argue it is a POI. here is the link posted with it. . https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1382286
would you have any advice that would help it get approved?
As a general principle, it is up to the submitter to show their submission is eligible. if you are expecting every reviewer to do the legwork that you didn’t, that is extremely unreasonable.
I would go with a different photo. The plaque is not interesting plus it makes it look like a private house. The building is what is eligible, not the plaque, so use a photo of the building.
I am going to leave suggestions for your specific nominations to the plethora of forum regulars we have from your part of the world, but, if thinking of it as spoon feeding helps you to clearly express how and why this meets criteria, that can be helpful. I try to think about the possibility of my nominations being pulled into internal review when I am crafting them, and want it to be clear to someone who may not be from my part of the planet as to why it meets criteria and would make a great wayspot.
That looks like it might be a really pretty building but you cant tell from the main picture at all what it is. I would stand across the road from it and take a picture of the whole frontage as my main picture. Your photos also do not look super clear - when I am nominating, I frequently polish my phone camera lenses on my top to ensure there are no finger prints, and I think this might help you too? It’s so easy to smudge a phone and while it doesn’t completely ruin a photo, it does often make it seem lower quality which can be avoided.
I had some help on a listed building nomination last night actually. Here’s how I ended up framing it, and I took my photos from across the road so that I could get the upper floors in shot more easily- does this help? Obviously still in queue so can’t say if it will be accepted or not!
I disagree with some wayfarers that restaurants have to be super special or win awards or anything like that - I simply think about whether I would meet a friend there, because to me that demonstrates that its a great place to socialise. This is a restaurant I’ve personally visited with groups of friends in the past and we always enjoyed it, so I was happy it was accepted.
