I am writing to report a distressing issue regarding my daughter’s Pokémon GO account. She started playing two months ago and has become a dedicated player, investing both time and resources into the game.
As we live in an area with few game elements, she spent a lot of effort identifying local landmarks to create PokéStops and Routes. Several of these were officially accepted by Niantic and appeared in-game (including PokéStops, a Max Stop, and Routes).
However, everything she created has suddenly vanished from the map. No emails were sent, and no explanations were provided. She can still play, but her environment is now empty again.
This has been incredibly frustrating for her, to the point where she is considering stopping the game entirely.
All accepted PokéStops, Max Stops, and Routes have disappeared.
Could someone please look into this or explain if there was a geo-fencing update or a technical error in our area? I have attached screenshots of the acceptance emails and the current empty map as proof.
There are many discussions on here about bike routes signs like these being removed unless at “nodes.”
It is usually the community that accepts nominations. Niantic removes Wayspots they feel were accepted in error that meet removal criteria. Usually there will have been a report they are acting on.
Hello,
This is not a bug, it appears to be a case of removed wayspots.
Since the main initial is with the nominations I shall move this to Nomination Support where we can discuss the nominations in detail. If in the end there is a formal request for reinstatement we can advise on that.
It is a confusing picture that we have here.
As has been said the signs to the nodes are normally not eligible. @AMG7070 has been commenting on these more recently so may be able to offer advice.
Sometimes nominations get approved that should not. These can at a later date be reported and removed.
I suspect that is what has happened here.
With regard to the actual nominations each nomination even if the object is similar should have a photo taken at the location of that specific marker and the surrounding context - to enable verification that it exists at that location.
Submitting the same photo at different locations is a breach of the rules and sanctions may be imposed.
Could you give details of what was actually being submitted.
We should really be talking directly to your daughter as it is her account.
General point
A child should be using a child account and those are not eligible for doing wayfarer.
Bike routes/nodes/markers however you like to call them are a point that is clear to staff. They are ineligible.
Why are they ineligible? @cyndiepooh has put the statement of official Niantic staff in the thread already.
Staff considers these as general routes as part of basic infrastructure in all sorts of countries like Netherlands, Belgium and France.
Many have appealed here, and all were not succesfull.
But why have the submissions been accepted in the first place then?
This is a case of where reviewers keep accepting these signs even if they know it is ineligible or most simply don’t know about the staff statement here.
I have seen these submissions in the voting proces actually and usually skip since they always get accepted when it should not be.
I unfortunately have to say that these bikes notes will not be restored by Niantic/Scopely staff and will stay removed.
I also recommend to stop sending in these submissions to avoid more disappointment or warnings on the account in question here.
I have been hit to by multiple of these pokestops dissappearing in my area, since it is happening everywhere where these signs are.
I fully understand the frustration. If you look at the official criteria, it is clear that these markers are eligible.
They are very much distinct, if you use the meaning of the word distinct as mentioned in the criteria (you can very easily identify these in real life). The location is usually easily identifiable using street view. So no reason to reject these. The question is, do they meet acceptance criteria, as the sole purpose of these signs is to explore the country on a bike, they meet two of the three acceptance criteria (good place to explore and exercise).
The purpose is not a simple direction to get from A to B, but to use the scenic route.
see also:
But unfortunately this is my opinion, and not the opinion of Niantic, and in the end they decide.
