Newish reviewer - seems that standards are weirdly arbitrary

I have tried a few nominations over the years, never to have one accepted. Recently, I decided to try a few more to get some Pokestops in areas that don’t currently have any. I’ve been a player for a long time, so I know the variety of Pokestops that I have seen in locations all over the world. So, I chose sensible stops. Cool permanent objects, along walking routes. More significant than most objects that are currently Pokestops! And yet they keep being rejected. The only explanation I get is that it is “Wayfarer criteria.” I read those criteria, and the rejection makes no sense.

The only thing I see is that a lot of reviewers don’t seem to think that anything is “significant enough.” Does it have to be a thousand year old monument? Most Pokestops are just regular old signs or plaques. It’s making me a bit discouraged and angry at the process.

If you are getting “Wayfarer Criteria” as a rejection reason, my guess is that your emails say “our team” rejected it instead of “the community” and most likely it was the machine learning (ML) ai program Niantic uses now. This rejection reason appears to mean nothing that met criteria was detected in the nomination.

Many Wayspots, especially those “all over the world” where a database was used to import points of interest in order for there to be game locations at all, do not meet current criteria. You can brush up on current criteria here: Niantic Wayfarer
but the main idea is

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

They have added a new section to the forum with more in depth explanations that I find very useful: Criteria Clarification Collection

And if you want specifics on how or if you can improve a nomination, you can post for advice in Nomination Support

5 Likes

It sounds like the AI is rather arbitrary. I guess I will have to figure out what key words the AI likes.

It seems to me that the ML model mostly looks at the photo. Make sure to take a photo with a clear visual anchor.

If you truly never received an acceptance over the years you should definitely show your (recent) attempts and get feedback from the community (Also possible via DM for a bit more privacy)

2 Likes