I would like to raise a concern regarding my Wayfarer account, which has recently been permanently suspended for “Review Circle Participation.”
I am very surprised by this decision, as I have never received any prior warning, 30-day suspension, or 90-day suspension — despite the fact that the Wayfarer Abuse Enforcement Ladder Policy clearly outlines these steps before a long-term suspension should be applied.
In my case, I have only done fewer than 300 reviews in total, and my rating has always remained in the “Fair” or “Good” range. I have never participated in any organized reviewing groups or knowingly done anything that would manipulate the system.
I have already contacted support, but they responded that their decision is final and refused to provide further details or assistance. I respect Niantic’s policies and the effort to keep the platform fair, but in this situation, I feel I deserve a second chance, or at the very least a clearer explanation.
Has anyone experienced something similar? Or can a member of the Wayfarer team help clarify how “Review Circle Participation” is defined and enforced? I am more than willing to cooperate and correct any misunderstandings.
Please note this from the abuse ladder policy, as it states that any punishment can be applied, depending on the severity of the case.
As part of that commitment, we enforce a punishment ladder against most types of abuse. This policy may provide offenders with disciplinary actions proportional to the severity of the offenses they perform. This means that a first time offender can be punished with any of the disciplinary actions listed below depending on how severe their offense was.
You pretty much has the definition of a review circle correct, in that it’s organized. Review circles are typically when a group of users get together to approve things they know do not meet criteria and approve anyways; some may also be submitting ineligible POIs and asking others in the group to approve them. They are basically trying to fill up the database with ineligible POIs in order to get more game play locations and/or manipulate the map/game in their favor.
Staff do monitor the forums, so they may be able to send you a DM with additional info.
I have already submitted an appeal regarding this issue, but unfortunately, they did not provide any additional information to help me understand the decision. I do not believe that review circle participation, especially in unclear or unintentional cases, is a serious enough offense to justify a permanent ban. Moreover, given the small number of reviews I’ve made and the fact that my rating was Fair or Good, it’s highly unlikely that my account had any meaningful impact on the outcome of nominations.
It’s also important to note that the Wayfarer rating system (Poor - Fair - Good - Great) was designed to ensure that users with lower reliability have less influence on decisions. This makes the permanent ban feel even more unreasonable in my case.
Again, staff monitor the forums, and hopefully will DM you will more info. There’s little that any of us can do for you other than provide you with the info that is publicly available.
The rating is based off of your agreements and disagreements with other reviewers, and yes, those in review circles could possibly have have a Great rating if they are all working together and coming to the same agreement on submissions. Ratings typically increase when one received more agreements with others and can decrease if more disagreements are received, or abuse is detected.
To be frank, your “Fair/Good” rating is not very good. If you have a good review record, its should be “good/ great”.
In-Game Medal:
Agreements earned while your rating is “Good” or “Great” count towards in-game medals in Pokémon Go and Ingress. Agreements earned at lower ratings (Poor or Fair) do not count towards these medals.
The wayfarer team may decide to respond via DM as you are entitled to privacy.
On a general point…
Colluding with others to ensure that specific submissions are either accepted or potentially rejected is a serious matter. It is deliberate manipulation of the system to favour one particular outcome. It is not about a mistake or misunderstanding.
If that is something you did then I would like to suggest you are better to accept that you did something that is wrong and against the rules.
You are learning a hard lesson and if others made it seem simple and harmless then perhaps reflect on whether these are people that are worthy of your trust.
I hope the Wayfarer team will DM me soon. It has been about a week since my account was banned, and I truly hope to receive a clear explanation and be given another chance.