I was at a farm themed restaurant visiting family and noticed a pretty distinctive feature in the corner- a massive fake silo serving as seating. I took a photo thinking it’d make a fun POI, as it’s artistic and decorative, and definitely hand painted,but it was rejected as temporary.
Now that im across the country, i could not resubmit, so i appealed it and I’m surprised by the result. I’m heavily disagreeing with it being a “regular sitting area” when all the rest of the tables look like just that- tables in standard booths.
I don’t see what criteria it violates. As an example, a bench is a regular sitting area and ineligible, but even a decorative or artistic bench is said to be eligible, and this is even more unique than that. This is a themed piece of art inside a public eatery. Unless there is some new rule that says sitting areas are always ineligible even if they are art pieces, I don’t think that was a fair assessment.
It would be nice if Niantic could define this.
I think it’s a great wayspot.
Maybe they’re saying it’s just structurally a part of a whole - a restaurant.
Like, I’ve seen the outdoor seating submitted for a restaurant. It’s not like a park picnic area you can drop into - you have to be a patron of that restaurant to sit there. The tables and chairs are boring, mass produced. In this case, I’d rather someone nominate the restaurant, even with a picture of its outdoor seating.
But for the silo, that one seating area is so unique! I’ll bet kids (and some adults) want to go there just to sit in the silo, lol. I see it more akin to art in a restaurant - eligible for “Explore”. If anyone can try again, I’d include “unique architecture” in the description.
So i went to the wayfarer chat and even they won’t provide a reason itst not eligible, despite me asking specifically to see which policy it fell under. They just call it a sitting area again, called it ineligible, and closed the chat so i could not respond.
I am starting to think there’s some really weird biases happening within their team itself, And it’s extremely frustrating that no one will actually open up a dialogue about it, and there’s nothing we can do. These people are paid by Niantic and they can just double down on being wrong with no recourse or explanation.
Maybe you should submit it as unique art. As the silo is painted?!
I think it’s really cool. Perhaps Niantic thinks every table in this restaurant is similar
