I got a 30 day shadow ban due to misplacement and influencing and it’s so wrong

General Discussion
1

I am writing to respectfully appeal the 30-day suspension applied to my Niantic Wayfarer account, as I believe the decision was based on an incorrect assessment of my submission.

The stated reason for the suspension is that I intentionally placed the Wayspot too far from its real-world location. However, this is not what happened.

The Wayspot was placed only a few meters away from its exact real-world position. The adjustment was minimal and was made solely to ensure that the Wayspot would be placed correctly within the game cell system. At no point did I attempt to misrepresent the location or move it to a different area to gain an unfair advantage.

I am attaching photos that clearly show the actual location of the object. These images, together with the information already available to your review team, demonstrate that the real-world object is indeed located where I indicated, with only a very small positional adjustment. The difference is only a matter of a few meters and does not change the real-world accessibility or the legitimacy of the Wayspot.

I fully understand and respect Niantic’s guidelines, and I have always tried to contribute to the Wayfarer platform in good faith. I have never intended to submit false locations or abuse the system. Receiving a 30-day suspension for what was, at most, a minor positional adjustment made in good faith feels disproportionate and unfair.

I kindly ask that you review my case again, taking into consideration the attached evidence and the actual distance between the object’s real location and the submitted Wayspot. I believe the evidence will show that this was not an attempt to falsify a location, but rather a minimal adjustment that remained within the immediate vicinity of the real-world object.

Thank you for taking the time to review my appeal. I sincerely hope you will reconsider the suspension and restore my account.

In addition to this I found out my first warning on march 20 2026 was given to me by influencing because I explained why my edit was senseful. Please, there is go fest in 5 days, I don’t want to miss it for a mistake so small and made so big.

***mod edit to remove multiple tags

If somebody could please help me figure out something. I recon that my second warning is due to a misplacement, although geographically I just moved the spot on the internal side of the building to make it appear, but the location is there, you can see the name of the shop of which the graffiti was made on even on google maps.

For my first warning on march 20 2026, the embassy of Algeria was literally moved of 2 inches, placed ON THE BUILDING, instead of being placed on the gate.

*** mod edit Please do not tag staff. It is not necessary, available staff do read and if appropriate respond.

2

Welcome to the forums :slight_smile:

This is a misunderstanding of wayspots. Wayspots should be placed correctly for the POI and are game-agnostic. Using the cell system to misplace a wayspot is deliberate abuse and is why Niantic do not and will not acknowledge the use of the cell system.

3

No-one would notice a wayspot being 2 inches away from its correct location. Also, no gate is only 2 inches away from the building. What was the actual location error in this case?

You got a warning in March for misplacement and then misplaced another wayspot. The point of the warnings is to make you think about what you are doing and change your behaviour, which didn’t happen.

4

Hello and welcome @mixzuuuuu
I understand what a distressing time this is for you.
Thank you for your open account of what happened, and I hope you are open to learning from this

It is clear however that you have not grasped the need for accurate placement.

This is exactly what misrepresenting a location for game benefit is. Unfortunately by focussing on which cell the object would appear in you are seeking to manipulate the Gameboard and you are doing so because it is favourable, so there is an advantage.
This was not the correct way to approach making the nomination.
I appreciate that you feel that because it was what you regard as a short distance that it was ok, but that is not the case.
I also understand that missing a big event such as Go Fest will feel hard. That sanction is making you realise that there was an issue with what you were doing. I wish that these were not needed and that people would seek advice and listen to the warnings. Unfortunately it would appear you didn’t until now.
The community here will be happy to support you to find and make good nominations that will improve the gameboard without breaching the rules.
It’s a hard lesson to learn, but better to be open to learning.

5

I absolutely get it. But at the same time, it’s a misplacement of a few steps, I could have just got it rejected and I would have kept going on with my life. It wasn’t harmful or anything, and a BAN is just exaggerated. The bigger problem is the first warning I got, for an edit from the gate of the building, to the roof of the building (I will attach the picture) from red to turquoise

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6

I will invite you to read the comment I left after the other reply I got. The biggest issue is the first warning, second one could make sense, still very harsh, but could make sense. But the first one makes no sense

7

As you are aware, that is a lot more than 2 inches. About 2000% more! That is a significant adjustment and appears to be solely due to moving the wayspot into a different cell, as the centre of the building is an unsual place for such a wayspot.

It is unfortunate you did not realise after the first warning that mislocating wayspots is a problem and is not accepted by Niantic.

This is exactly the same thing you did which caused you to get the 30 day suspension - mislocated a wayspot deliberately to get it into a different cell than the one it actually exists in.

8

Edits are made for every convenience tho, otherwise they wouldn’t make edits be available on platforms like Pokémon go, for example. The “consolato di Algeria” is on the building, it’s not on the gate. The movement, rather being cell directed or not, was right. If the wayspot is the building, it should be ON THE BUIlding and not on the gate. And even there, it could have just been rejected and stop. The warning was wrong.

9

Wayspots for buildings normally belong on the main door. It is very unusual for it to be correct to have the wayspot in the middle of the building. Usually there would need to be a strong architectural feature there for this to even be potentially valid. The gate may well be the correct place if the picture is of a POI at the gate and that POI is itself eligible (instead of just being a sign being used as a proxy for the building).

Edits are NOT made for every convenience. Location edits are solely to correct the location of misplaced wayspots.

As an example, if the wayspot for a football field was in the middle of the playing area, it would be correct to request that it be moved to the edge of the playing area (or behind a goal).

If the wayspot was already at the edge, requesting to move it to the opposite side, e.g., in order to move it into a different cell, would be incorrect.

10

There is a sign at the gate, if the sign was the wayspot, it was at the correct position. And as the next building is already a wayspot, it won’t show in the game. But still the location was correct and should not have been moved just to get it in the game.

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11

If there was an object on the side of the building where you submitted the nomination, I would get why you would be upset with the rejection. However, if there is no subject at the side of the building, where you placed the nomination is essentially gaming the system. Whether I think the ban is excessive, I can’t answer that question, but unless Niantic has made a grave error in judgement, I would understand why it resulted in a ban.

12

Please be aware that the policy around these sanctions does not require a warning. If the offence is severe enough you can go straight to a higher level.
But this is also why if you have a warning that you think is wrong you should appeal it.

However knowing you did have a warning should have made you consider your actions as you knew you were at higher risk if you didn’t follow the rules.

I understand how deeply frustrating this feels but you need to do more reflection on why having had a warning you persisted.

13

I feel like you are giving me “political” answers. I am telling you that I understand the sense of it, but at the same time edits are made also to take a “justified” advantage in the interested platforms. The wayspot is a picture of the building, since it is an embassy. Google maps points the sign on the gate, but the embassy is in fact the building itself. Given that you are right, it’s still very harsh to get a warning for such a minimal edit, rather that making it cell directed or not.

14

As you can see tho, the location of the actual wayspot is not in the correct spot, even if the sign was taken into consideration. The sign is geographically in front of the building, while the wayspot is in between the two buildings

15

You have had Niantic telling you that your actions were abusive and everyone responding here has said the same thing (to a lesser or greater degree). You would do best by stepping back and a bit and reconsidering to see if you can understand what everyone is saying.

16

I am not a wayspot directed player. I am a Pokémon go player. I’ll be real and tell you that I found no harm in moving a wayspot from the gate to the building to have a new pokestop appear in game. And I think that even if this is indeed against the rules, the rejection would have been enough.

On the second part, I’ll tell you that since I don’t do wayspots very often, I didn’t even know that I got the first warning, otherwise I would have acted differently.

17

What you are essentially doing right now is proving / explaining why the ban is correct. Stop digging whilst you can.

18

True, I agree not the best position for the pin. However you did not move it to a better position, but to a position to get it in the game.

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19

And I totally get it. But wasn’t a rejection good enough for something that small? Rather then it being game directed or not, the edit made “sense” in some way. I was not editing the location falsely to get an advantage. I was editing the location truthfully to get a legitimate advantage.

20

Yes, it is slightly in the wrong position, but your location edit attempted to make it even more incorrect, instead of actually fixing it. That is considered abuse.