but you also know what i mean. signfarer has been a thing for a long time.
and you know that i want all the clarifications i can get
this is one of the worst things about only community decisions being on the showcase. ML grabs all mine 
loving all the quick accepts though!
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Before the new showcase system I was never going to appear because I didn’t operate in the selected area.
New showcase ,I have appeared on but it honestly meant nothing just a double take moment …I’m just not into that sort of thing, and I have seen such random stuff over the years I quickly learnt it really doesn’t mean a lot.
And now most of mine are like @cyndiepooh and are showing no sign of appearing.
There are in effect 2 separate points here one is around this type of sign which I have already given my thoughts on.
The other is totally different and is about the value of wayfarer weekly showcase wayspots, which I personally take with a pinch of salt.
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I have that same problem the only nomination that has gone to community voting for me since May was one I did out of state so I never saw if it made the showcase or not.
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I am inclined to agree, although I have wavered back and forth on the matter.
@tomwe These are pretty different than city welcome signs. Cities are larger and much more welcoming to guests visiting. Neighborhood subdivisions generally don’t want you there unless you’re a homeowner or their guest.
We already have problems with some neighborhoods getting upset at players skulking around their playgrounds. I could tell stories about someone who liked to hide in a clump of tall grass, at night, so he could wait for people to take a gym and then take it back the second they left. He’d then laugh when they called him a spoofer and produce a blurry night photo of the accuser’s car. The sort of idiocy that gets the police called.
Many of these division signs are also along busy roads, and or on private lawns, and may or may not actually have pedestrian access, making them ineligible.
On the other hand, some of them are distinctive to look at located along sidewalks, a few even even look inviting to gather and I’m sure some people use them as landmarks. Accepting these seems more reasonable, but always leaves me with a bit of a bad taste as far as discriminating against poorer areas. Is it really fair to approve the big, distinctive, fancy, ones that boast of the wealth of the area and reject smaller ones whose residents can’t afford sidewalks to access them?
People like black and white because it feels more balanced and fair. Accept ALL basketball courts, even if the net is tattered. Accept ALL churches, even ones in strip malls with temporary looking banners for signs. If we can’t justify most subdivision signs as wayspots, then it’s easier to accept none of them. The job of us, as a reviewing community, is to decide what should and should not be on the map. But when there is too much left to nuance, to reviewers, we get the current situation with benches. People keep submitting memorial benches, and it’s basically a random chance whether the reviewers will accept it.
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I think most street name signs, neighborhood/apartment signs, and city welcome signs are not good Wayspots. With all the caveats mentioned above of course. These were designed to help with navigation - so you can get to the place for actual socialization, exploration, or exercise. They are not the destination themselves.
If the sign has iconic architecture, a fountain, benches, or anything else, that marks that its makers intended it as a location unto itself - I would probably pass it.
If the neighborhood or city has interesting things inside it - nominate those things. Not boring signs along roads that someone might take to get to the actually interesting thing.
Well, aside from the side chat about the eligibility of neighborhood signs (whole different issue!) there’s still the main discussion about unimpressive things on the Showcase. I wish there was a way to assign a “showcase value” to Wayspots as they travel through the system, so that truly stunning, thumbs-up-all-over-the-page candidates could be prioritized over those that receive the base level of digits needed for acceptance.
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I might be wrong, but I’m pretty certain the “qualityScore” is the showcase value! I might be wrong again, but I believe that the nominations which are “thumbs-up-all-over-the-page candidates” end up with higher quality scores than ones people don’t know about or thumbs down.
This showcase scored in the high 90s, nearly reaching 100, which I believe is the maximum qualityScore.
If that’s the case, maybe new metrics are needed behind the scenes - it’s an intriguing idea to me, anyway! Assigning bonus points for the calculated visual appeal of the photo, assigning bonus points to Art wayspots, etc. comes to mind. Just my opinion, of course. I don’t think the Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down reviews lend themselves to really granular quality measures, as the choices are strictly binary.
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Neighborhood (and City) signs for some fit the explore criteria as in finding the area. It’s kind of hit-miss depending on community. Which might be argued as working as intended.
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Yes, the showcase quality is a different discussion and something I hope Niantic will look into. It’s pretty clear what the problem is. Emily approves the good stuff and the showcases don’t come from Emily approvals. I’m not sure how plausible it would be to have Emily evaluate the wayspots she approves and add them to the showcases.
It seems impossible, in any case, to have 100% ideal results for showcases without having real people screen them, and that would be too time-intensive.
OK, I hope this isn’t a stupid question, but I am confused with people talking about showcases… is that just a synonym for “Featured Wayspots” or is it something else? I only know the word “showcase” as referring to Pokemon Go usage, and I realize that’s probably NOT what is being talked about here!
People really really dislike memorial benches. Like the heat is real. IS it bad if I kinda like them?
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Not all memorial benches are created equal. There’s clear clarifications on them. Our feelings should be left aside when submitting or reviewing them.
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I don’t disagree with you. You get strong feeling here when someone brings up the topic.
Dude, can I pin this and use in a couple of days as “sage and wise words” from one of our Ambos? Please?
I bet $3.15 someone is putting their feelings in to a (post, review or nomination) at this very moment I’m typing.
And I want to be able to quote the great @ramennoods
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Great 
. I was just asked on my local discord if the neighborhood sign being featured means these are officially acceptable. Please someone “official” weigh in on this so I can link that answer.
Maybe @NianticAaron ?
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It’s an easy reply.
Officially the criteria are Explore, Exercise, and Social/Gather and nothing has changed.
Rare neighborhood signs are acceptable anywhere if they are artistic enough to be explore worthy.
Some communities think all neighborhood signs fit explore. Others don’t.
((Then add in some info about your area, we do/don’t tend to see them so reviewers in this pool tend not to accept them. You can always try, but don’t be surprised by result)
Nothing’s changed about the criteria, but remember most criteria is based on local judgement except for a few specifics like K-12 schools are banned.
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I like benches when they place-hold a trail, or are the only thing in a public space. If I am hiking with a friend who has sciatica problems, if I can say “look, there’s a bench, it’s just around the next bend” that is very meaningful! But, then it drives me nuts when people nominate 50 benches in a small park and it blocks adding anything else to the area. It’s one of the cases where I feel that density is a legitimate factor in determining the significance.
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