Neighborhood sign is Featured Showcase


Please address whether these neighborhood signs are eligible. And please don’t feature them if they are not.

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Regardless of eligible, is it “showcase” worthy?

I know the showcase is probably random from all approved nominations but it would be nice if it was the extra special stuff

And definitely not stuff like this where its just not even got consensus as to whether it should be submitted at all

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I suspect that the showcases only show stuff that went through community voting. And since ML approves the best stuff, I haven’t seen a “showcase worthy” showcase in a long time.

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I love showcases, at least the Wayfarer kind! Admittedly, though, quality of Showcased stops has dropped precipitously since ML has been swiftly accepting the slam-dunk nominations and only leaving the more nuanced reviews with the community. I’ve done a lot of nominations in the countryside lately, and only one went into Community voting: that one was on the showcase, and it wasn’t even my finest nomination of the batch!

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Agree that ML approved Wayspots don’t get shown in Featured, which is a shame. The end of June and beginning of July, I had about 9 Wayspots, most at local parks, approved by ML, but never featured. Couldn’t’ 1 of the 3 basketball courts be featured? What about the playground or outdoor gym?

Here’s one from my area last week that I wasn’t too happy with, especially after seeing that it’s just north of the city park/zoo:

This week it better, with a mural, gazebo, and playground being featured.

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Yes … these have been a bit of a conundrum for me. When playing pogo I have seen a lot of stops as these estate signs. Consequently, I would on that basis, vote for approval.

I posted on here and came to agree with posters who felt that the sign had to have something “special” about it.

Are they a great place to socialise? For me personally – No.

Recently, I was at some local shops and walking back to my car. Opposite the car park is an over 50 retirement style estate with the obligatory massive sign and its own distinct name. There were about a dozen people standing in front of the sign. I crossed the road and asked them what was going on. It turned that they meet there on Tuesdays at 10am – and go on a walk around the neighbour hood.

So — is that great place to socialise? To some – Yes. The sign is big and so has become a bit of a landmark By this I mean that in conversation you might say "I was in the car parked right opposite the the Madden West sign.

Maybe they can be like a trail marker as an exploration start point – or something distinctive — that you pass in your travels and use as a navigation point.

Would you take a visitor to see it? Maybe not personally but some folks do. “Oh see that sign… that’s where my Aunty lives” …

Food for thought…

And … I have had poi I nominated end up on Showcase. Let’s just say I was surprised – as I didn’t think it was special at all …

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Showcases are a complete mess. You’d hope that they were properly curated ‘best of the best’ to show off the fantastic things in that particular area. Unfortunately they just seem to be completely random stuff, half the time not interesting and even worse, ineligible things that make people submit more of those as it appears to have been endorsed by Niantic themselves.

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It looks pretty compated to the showcases i get here : an informational sign/bulletin board and two playground sets :-\

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But criteria is that it IS a great place of exercise, exploration, or being social. Not that people CAN choose to use it that way.

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Thanks for your interest and I fully appreciate your point.

People can tend to socialise close to where they live. It may be impractical for them to travel to another place that others have designated as a great place.

The Sydney Opera House is probably considered a great place to socialise. If you don’t like busy crowds and you live over 1000km away???

It might be worth considering – that to the locals – people who actually live there — that the lawn in front of that sign – is a place they happily meet uo at.

“Is a great place” ---- surely this is up to the locals. I have spent considerable time in the outback. A town of population 100 can have a very different perception of “is a great place” to me when I am at home.

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These are not designed as places to socialize.

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I think the nuance is here is local, really it’s all up to your local voters. If the voters in your area deem the criteria to mean, “yes” neighborhoods signs should be accepted. Then yes they should.

There are many areas where the voters are very strict on the criteria and those reviewers would say “no”.

I don’t think either is incorrect.

Word of advise, if your local area approves things like that. Don’t advertise them on the global forum. I sure don’t. We keep our business in our area for our locals to decide and them interact with.

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“Local” is a huge area. “We” don’t accept these here. Except when “we” do. Criteria should be criteria - end of story.

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I’d be great if it worked that way, but we all know it doesn’t. The criteria is merely a starting point. Example - a trail marker in the Southern USA is different than a trail marker in Northern Europe.

I don’t have a problem with a local area managing the criteria the way they see it through their lens. Otherwise, I’m just a gatekeeper for a POI I’ll never ever interact with.

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When I get something to review, I don’t try to be a gatekeeper. I look for reasons to accept. I want to know the right answers. If I have set my bonus somewhere exotic, I could see things having different significance, but not in my Showcase Featured Wayspots area.

The only thing significant about that huge pile of brick featured is to let people know you have the bucks to live there. And that should not get you a Wayspot.

It is not a “Welcome” sign. It is not art. It does not have an area to gather. It is not a trailhead to a hiking route.

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@cyndiepooh We can agree to disagree. I really respect your opinion here and on the WDD. In my local area, we have POI’s that get approved that might not a little further north where you are. And that’s ok.

I advise people all the time that some POI’s are better left local and not upgraded, also some POI’s are best not celebrated, because there is a part of the community that will search it out and try and get it removed.

At the end of the day, my personal goal (not a secret) is to have a eligible/legal POI in every S17.

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Show me where in the criteria that it says neighborhood signs are not eligible?

If I were reviewing I would say most meet place to explore, as many are land marks. So as long as they don’t fall on SFPRP or are in an unsafe area to access (like the middle of the street) then you are OK. Some may be very generic and might not meet permanent or distinct, but that’s where the nuance comes in.

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We have criteria clarification on trail markers all over the world, though. This is what many have been asking for, criteria clarification on neighborhood/subdivision/apartment signs. It’s one of the most requested since the Criteria Clarification Collection was introduced back in May.

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They are not ineligible. I have never said that. I said that they are not eligible because every nomination:

Must meet at least one of the three eligibility criteria

  • A great place for exploration
  • A great place for exercise
  • A great place to be social with others

A big sign in front of a neighborhood is none of these.

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What about town/city name signs? If the destination town is A Good Place To Explore then a stop at the entrance to the town encourages exploration within it? Are Neighbourhood Signs different to that? FWIW I generally reject billy basic boring town signs. If it’s pretty/unique I may accept.