How do I turn off all the sh1te I don’t want. I just want to see text. No effing colours. No bazillion smilies. no multiple columns to the side…
Just some good old fashioned text.
I moved this to the Forum Suggestion category. You can still see it under My Posts. Please take a few minutes to read the forum before jumping in and spamming negative topics about the experience.
We are interested in your thoughts on how to improve, but please understand that the platform for this forum is not designed by Niantic. There are some suggestions that they simply won’t be able to implement.
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I feel like the default view should be Categories for everyone. It’s less confusing then seeing the topics in a big mix based on latest activity
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You’re free to make that the default for yourself. I happen to like the “Latest” view on mobile.
This is absolutely the most crowded, nonsensical forum layout I have ever seen in my life. It doesn’t take up a full screen on PC and there are random columns that don’t seem to be helpful.
Is this another instance of the Wayfarer team only using mobile and not checking to see if things work on desktop?
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The “Latest” view is great! It definitely should be default view.
However, now there are 4! pinned posts (Wayspot Title and Description Tips, Why hasn’t my approved POI shown up in my game yet?, Tips for Rural Nominators, and Why was my Pokestop/Gym/Portal/Flower/Mushroom (etc) removed?), so need to scroll 2 pages through these pinned posts to see the latest.
I think it’s better to have at most one pinned post, par example “Where is my pokestop, frequent questions and tips”, and have links to other posts there.
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I believe once you read them, they become unpinned for you.
No, use on mobile was not behind layout. There are limits to the layout that Wayfarer can influence. But we are looking at the comments and taking them onboard.
This whole forum is a mess. I have not had a single minute that I kept the site open because it was so unappealing to look and read.
Is there any content that would mean something? I am not able to find out, because everything’s just meandering.
It perfectly shows the state Niantic Wayfarer is in.
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Hi
I don’t know if it would work for you, but I did my settings like this:
- Homepage: sorted categories
- Set a follow bell on every mean category
- Set notifications for everything (email information out!!! That’s important)
Than you can see a counter of all incoming on your “Avatar” icon. Click it open and see the new topics, comments and decide, like in the old forum, if this matches your interests. Near the bottom of this short view there’s a “dismiss” button to show them as read, so it counted new.
I use my mobile
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How do you even reach the settings? I wanted to know and Tintino locked the topic 
Why would anyone want email notifications for everything that happens? This sounds insane. I’m already getting too many useless emails from this forum and don’t want any of them. At least the old forums (which had previously been among the worst I’d encountered) only sent emails when things were important.
I don’t even know how I got here. I have used online forums for over twenty-five years and never seen something this disastrous.
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I didn’t find it was obvious.
Clicking on avatar gives a drop down series of icons the bottom one is what you want and that opens up a menu of further choices - preferences opens this page
You can then set the choices you want for notification, appearance, etc.
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You remain a saint and a lifesaver. Being able to turn off the super-bright mode improves everything.
Probably a stretch asking but is there a way to make this look like a normal forum or make it easier to navigate? Why are there so many columns that seem entirely unhelpful and not useful?
I think if you choose categories it gives this layout
Which I think some people are finding useful.
It is taking a bit of getting used to and For me Dracula in dark mode has been the biggest improvement.
I’m still finding my feet to see what works best for me.
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I still cannot properly use this forums. It’s a hot mess and I can’t find anything.
Here’s the thing: it looks and acts differently depending on what type of device you’re using. I’m almost always using it on my laptop, and the default layout is to show the categories, along with the latest posts to the right. The search bar is at the top of the forums.
On a mobile device, it defaults to the categories, and the latest posts in those categories. If you want to see the latest posts, you do have to change from Categories to Latest.
Now, you can change the default home page from Categories to Latest/Unread/New/Hot, but it changes this for both desktop and mobile. With the change to desktop, the categories no longer show up, just the threads type yuo have chosen to be shown, but mobile will default to what you chose.
One way to work around this on mobile devices would be to view the page in desktop mode. Yes, not the best workaround, but it will show the categories, latest threads, search bar, etc.
Staff is planning on doing another AMA, and they are looking for questions from us, so you may want to consider posting your questions in the Wayfarer AMA - 2025 thread. More info about the AMA can be found here: Wayfarer AMA - 2025
Do keep in mind that the forums run off a 3rd party called Discourse, so staff may not be able to make the adjustments that we have asked for, but it’s still worth asking.
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I will just my opinion,
I use 100% on desktop and find the forums easy to use. Click “Topic” and read any updated thread.
As a forum user (even created and ran in the early days) since the early 2000s I can definitely state these forums are no way near the worse I have seen. They are functional and that is all I ask.
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Mobile on the other hand though…
[Tbf everything is 200% worse on mobile so]
100% agree with you. I’ve been using different forums for so long, and I’ve used ones that don’t allow links to be included, images to be posted, etc. I really like the forums and usually only use in desktop; I may reply to someone on my phone if they reply or tag me, but I prefer the desktop over the mobile. Most, I would imagine, use the forums on mobile though, and it’s not the greatest experience.
FYI: I did submit a question in regards to this thread for the next AMA, so if you’d like to see an answer, make sure to like the question here: Are there any plans to make any forum improvements?
On my phone and desktop, the forum defaults to the “Latest” feed with all posts displayed, while the categories are hidden on the side and don’t take space. Didn’t need any workaround 
Or, if it counts as workaround - make sure the “Latest” view is NOT switched to “Categories”.