A few days ago, I received a warning in Pokémon GO, and I was confused about why. Some experienced players told me it might be related to Wayfarer.
At the same time, I noticed that one of my nominations was rejected for “containing insults in the title or description.” There was definitely nothing inappropriate in my submission. I checked my Wayfarer email (as the message said to look for more information), but I didn’t receive anything.
I thought it could be an error, so I submitted an appeal. The appeal result came back with a different reason: “Misplacement of Wayspot submissions.” However, I’m sure the location was correct.
Does anyone know how I can resolve this issue?
Is there a way to remove the warning, or will it disappear over time?
Also, can I still make new nominations without risking a ban?
The message about abuse is often misunderstood, since people see the word “abuse” and take it as the normal meaning of the word. It means abuse of wayfarer, not necessarily abuse towards people.
Misplacing submissions is abuse of wayfarer, which is what this warning is about. The strike will stay on your account for a year and then be removed.
If you honestly believe the location was correct, you could post the submission photo and the wayspot location from the submission receipt email (which is found below the photos), and ask for feedback.
NianticAaron has explained that is the text string comes up when abuse is flagged, so don’t worry about “insults” if you didn’t make them. The “abuse” issue will have been the misplacement. Aaron is very good about initiating a DM to folks who don’t understand their warnings/bans, but it will have been about the issue mentioned in the separate email.
If you like, you could offer evidence here that your placement was correct. Or if you don’t want to reveal your location, you could wait for a DM.
Sorry, the message is in French — it says:
“The text or photo contains insults, mockery, or harassment against a particular person or group.”
Could it be a translation error?
About the location, I’m not 100% sure it’s exact because the spot is in the middle of a forest. I submitted it from my computer after the hike, so there might be a small margin of error, maybe around 10 meters — but it’s really just in the middle of nowhere.
I’m a bit worried about making another appeal now, because I’ve heard that it can sometimes lead to a 30-day ban if something goes wrong.
Salut, oui c’est une assez mauvaise traduction. Il s’agit comme les autres ont indiqué plus haut d’une raison générique “abus”. Tu peux vérifier en changeant la langue vers l’anglais si tu veux.
Thanks for the information! I understand better now.
I’ll wait for a DM from NianticAaron, but I’m still a bit worried about the warning. I can share some evidence about the location if that helps.
This Wayspot is part of a sports trail that includes around 15 different challenges or stations. This nomination was just a test to see if it would be accepted before submitting the others. Next time I’m in the area, I can also try to get the exact GPS position to confirm the correct placement.
It’s a translation issue, making the awful phrasing in English even worse when it’s in French. This rejection narrative is dreadful, because it can come up for any of the following:
The photo is not yours (e.g., taken from streetview, found on another website)
The photo is fake
The waypoint is fake
The text itself is abusive
The nomination is controversial and likely to be offensive (e.g., a mural of terrorists)
Another nomination was abusive and all of yours have been flagged as a consequence
The wayspot location pin is misplaced
The wayspot is deliberately misrepresented (e..g., on school property but pretending it isn’t)
When you get this, you have to work out for yourself which of these issues was the problem.
You are right that a second error can lead to a 30-day ban and this does cause some people to hold off from submitting wayspots, because they are scared about losing access to Pokemon Go. This is fair for deliberate abuse, but a little less fair for accidental mistakes. The problem is that Niantic cannot easily tell which it is.
If the location error put the wayspot submission into an empty cell while the real location is an occupied cell [or one which has other objects which are going to be submitted], that’s hard to justify.
However, if both the real location and the submitted location are empty cells and the location error could not result in any benefit, you have grounds for requesting a repeal of the warning.
I’m still pretty new to the Wayfarer system, but I did some research and found a tutorial explaining how to check the S2 (14 & 17) cells (nothing official though).
According to that map, the cell where I placed the Wayspot is empty, and there’s nothing around it.
Even with a 10-meter difference, it wouldn’t move to another cell — the nearest cell (14 & 17) is also empty.
So I don’t think there was any advantage or abuse intended.
By the way, is there any official or recommended map to check cell boundaries more accurately? I’d like to make sure I’m doing this correctly in the future.
Intel Ingress if you have an Ingress account [edited to remove incorrect reference to level 8]
pogomap.info - the cells are accurate but don’t rely on the markers as they are user-submitted and not necessarily accurate, especially near cell boundaries.
This is what I have written up previously about the cells:
When objects have a very specific location, such as fitness equipment, picnic shelters, then you don’t have much choice where to put the pin, so the cells (re proximity rules for Pogo) don’t really matter. if it doesn’t become a pokestop, it may become a powerstop.
When objects have a choice of location, such as a playground set, then knowing the cells can make a difference if you want a pokestop rather than a powerstop (or the other way round!), as you can choose where to put the pin when nominating and there is a legitimate choice of positions.
What you can’t do is try to move things after they are accepted in order to make them appear as a pokestop, if they are already in a good location and you are just moving them to a just-as-good location. People do that when they know about the cells and the proximity rules and are trying to tweak the gameboard.
Also - don’t misplace a submission that has a specific location, in order to get it into an empty cell. That is abuse, and risks a warning and a strike on the abuse ladder.
For submissions made remotely, I use a combination of google maps, streetview and ‘satellite’ view to try and get the spot accurate. Sometimes this is difficult, so it may be better to submit at the location and enter holding text. As long as you upload and put the submission on hold within 24 hours of choosing “Upload Now” or “Upload Later”, you can edit later safely.
Note that the 24 hours starts as soon as you click “Upload Later”, not when you later upload it.
In this case, you need to rely on your GPS location. I check the in-game playing location to confirm my GPS hasn’t wandered away before relying on it! When I have thin data, I go to the submission screen and confirm the location without waiting for the map to load (because that can take a while), which works as long as I have confirmed the GPS location first.
