This is where I would disagree. My own young ones meet regularly at the sign at each others estates. Now saying that, our estate signs are normally not that big, usually an engraved rock, a plaque or something along those lines.
Normally there is also a green area where the sign is, so it is the meeting point and they would normally hang out there and be social. I used to do it myself when I was younger and we’d sit there for hours chatting and having a laugh. I still do on the odd night I might be out for a few beverages. One of the reasons we used to go there was, even though public…it was far enough away from home to have private conversation without the parents hearing. Still happens now so:
Explore-not really (could be a very loose argument for exploring but I wouldn’t include it),
Exercise - no( again a loose argument because of the green area were you could have a kickabout)
Socialise -Yes. Based on the above.
We call it “The head of the road here” basically same thing, as the name signs are normally at entrance to the estate and normally lead out to the main road.
Again. I can meet at the dog supplies station, but that does make it a great place to be social? Those are also usually attached to a green area.
Show me some evidence that this is inherently a great place to be social and I will, and have, accepted them. Does it have a fountain, a patio, seating, etc.?
You are putting a very high bar on this that other nominations don’t have to live up to. I think it’s best to let the local reviewers decide if they think it’s a great place to be social, or a great place to exercise.
BELIEVE ME WHEN I WRITE THIS, I could provide you all the proof you wanted and I could write anything and you’d never know if it was true or not.
That is absolutely false. Every nomination I accept has to meet social, exercise, or exploration criteria. Some things I understand without them having to spell it out, like “playground - playground - playground.” But I must see how it meets criteria in order to accept it. That is not too high a bar.
I will link what I posted in another thread about the topic.
But I do want to say that in general I do try and evaluate each nomination initially based on the current criteria that Niantic has expressed: A Great place to be social with others, exercise, and/or explore.
Following that if one or more of the above was positive or neutral (Yes or IDK), I consider the rejection items in the same manner.
@BlameJamal I will add that I both enjoy discussion of nuance and your show - since you guys really hash things out, but I find it difficult to defend the overarching concept of Community Signs being generally accepted items without considering both eligibility and rejection criteria for each individual case. (Not saying you do, but you are a strong advocate).
I understand your point, however. In my neighborhood. We meet at our sign and walk every week. It’s literally a meeting place to go exercise. I put that in the description when I nominated it.
Now, how would you know it’s true? You really wouldn’t. But in this case it is. So, I think it meets the criteria for a great place to be social. In the AM (while it’s still cool) people gather and go walk.
To me that’s an example of a great Point of Interest.
It might be in your area, but here it works and works very well.
This right here! Has to be on an one on one basis. Can’t be a blanket. This is my entire point, thank you for helping bring it home.
You can’t say yes for all or no for all. You need to see how it fits that community. My point is let the locals do it. I’m in NC - if the community in Utah wants to include it? That’s really ok, because they may have a reason that not easily explained in the nomination. But the locals are going to understand.
Wayfarer can be a bit of a beast. We have guidelines to follow on a Global scale. But things may vary at a community level.
Our initial setup is based on our play area and a ‘Home’ location. The explanation of a Home location is somewhere we know well but not where we currently live. This goes to your point of true local community knowledge.
Then we get a ‘Bonus’ location. This can be anywhere in the world! As Wayfarers we (hopefully) try and follow the guidelines that Niantic has provided, but we do it with our own local community bias. It can hardly be helped.
I do appreciate that for the Global challenges that threads and podcasts pop up for help understanding that area. But I don’t know how many people are actively seeking out the Discord’s, Forums, and podcasts.
I meant ones like this one and you know it. Generic neighborhood signs. Like generic memorial benches.
You enjoy arguing and I do not, so I am done. I just realized I can turn off being notified when someone replies here.
There has been no response from Niantic although there has been a lot of traction on this post, so I assume that they don’t care - either about what gets featured or about this particular poi. I will keep using my best judgement.
I realize we are trying to wrap this conversation up at the moment but I had a thought that was popping up in my head…
We have to put an effort in to each of our nominations. I think more so with polarizing items that are (seemingly) in debate by the larger community.
While folks in the ‘Play Area’ and ‘Home Area’ should be familiar with local truths, there will be others voting on this as well. If this submission was upgraded the pool grows. Plus you’ll have folks that have picked this as a bonus area.
Do you sit by the dog supply station and listen to music? Chat? Sing? Gossip? Well they do. What makes anything better to socialise at than anything else? Just because it might not be the norm there it is here.
What is inherently social about a fountain? It is maybe pretty to look at but the majority are decorative without seating and if you attempted to go into them you would probably be arrested or kicked out of where a lot of them are. As for patios, they are areas with slabs of marble or concrete, just because they are maybe nice to look at doesn’t make them any better for socialising. The difference is, I don’t need evidence to know that people will use these as a meeting point the same as I don’t for the head of the road here.
A great place to be social is any place people come together to have fun and socialise.
That here is the head of a road or the name plate.
Yes, I agree with that. If I get something I’m not sure of when reviewing I will generally skip so others that are more knowledgeable of the area will hopefully get to vote,I will ask someone from that area about tings like I skipped so I can make a better decision in future. Ideally I won’t reject it unsure because I don’t want to ruin someone’s chances of getting something accepted because I am not sure of something, it just isn’t fair to the original submitter. Obviously if it is clearly not within acceptance criteria then I will have no issue rejecting.
The examples you are questioning, I have a good idea are legitimate. I can pull photos of fountains with people sitting and eating lunch, chatting, skating, etc.
I have never seen a single person, much less a group hang around a ‘Dog Station’.
To expand more, I think it’s fairly easy to show examples of certain types of areas drawing people to them. Fountains, town squares, etc. I could even make an argument for some cemeteries that are like parks.
I cannot make a similar argument currently for Community signs, dog refuse stations, or general benches. These do not naturally draw groups of people to them for any of our reasons (socialization, exercise, or exploring).
Like I said but you may have misunderstood. I don’t need evidence to know that, let alone photos. But I also know where my kids and their friends hang out and just like the fountain or patios, the head of the road or the estate name is where you will find them with a Bluetooth speaker, snacks etc. They often spend hours chatting about school, gossip, boys etc. my point is, there is no difference, they are all places that people hang out and socialise.
One other point, in the majority of rural areas you will have a hard time finding a patio, let alone a fountain.
This may be true — going back to local knowledge. But I’d feel hard pressed to have confidence in that. Would you bring people to that spot? Would your kiddo want to bring an out of town friend there? Or would they want to take them some place more interesting?
I’m really not trying to offend, but I’ve been in suburbia for a long time. I don’t see anyone ever hanging out any the Community sign. And if kids do, I don’t think it is because it’s interesting, it’s because it is what they have based on the distance they are allowed to go.
I know you don’t mean to offend, didn’t take it that way.
As for me bringing people there no, I wouldn’t say they are exploration points, but, as for meeting people there for a catch up to shoot the breeze, most definitely. Since I was a child myself I have always met friends at the head of the road. Now a lot older then a child and with children myself, I still do. On the odd occasions that we get together for a few beverages in our local we could end up sitting at the head of the road for another hour or 2 discussing the nights events.
Maybe it is an Irish thing, but is has been the way for years. I don’t know if there is a difference in estates here and there, ours would have anything from 15+ families living in an estate. (This is the low end, most are 50+) The area where most kids from those families meet is the head of the road or the Name plate. Might be usual to anyone from the outside but it is second nature here. The warning from most parents here to kids going out to meet friends is “Don’t pass the head of the road” Here it’s the done thing.
Don’t disagree with you on that. Sometimes yes, we would just meet and go. Same as I would of I was meeting at the fountain in the city. I’d meet there and continue on. Again same thing for me as I may sit around at the fountain but I know I would often meet for a chat at the head of the road. Maybe we do things different here. I’m not disagreeing with your point, but I’m also saying I would often hang around just for a chat also.
