Yesterday I submitted a photo to add to an existing waypoint. The place got a new sign (business remains the same, they just got an updated sign) so I wanted to add a new photo to show the new fun and fancy sign. That’s the only edit I submitted to the waypoint. I took the photo myself, it’s not someone else’s work, and I didn’t photoshop it or anything (other than crop the dimensions a little to make it better visible in game).
Today when I logged into wayfarer, my list shows that the photo nomination is “Under review” with the little Niantic balloon icon, which I’m guessing means a staff team.
Why would my photo be under review by staff? Did I do something wrong? I haven’t had very many nominations (new or edits) rejected in the time I’ve been wayfaring. I try very hard to follow the rules as I understand them. Maybe I made a mistake I didn’t realize, or maybe it’s just random and I’m being overly anxious.
Here is my photo. The original/current photo is of the sign directly on the building. The business has stayed the same, they just added this fun new sign in front of the building on the sidewalk. It’s like 5 feet away from the building, so I assumed it could be considered still part of the same waypoint.
They have to review a certain portion and its fairly random - I have one under review currently and had an edit recently.
So there is should be nothing to be concerned about. My recent experience took a couple of days.
It’s not uncommon for ML to pull nominations and edits to be reviewed by staff, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Many times, these are pulled and reviewed by staff for quality control purposes for ML. They typically get resolved within a few days, but can take longer.
Actually, staff have said that part of staff reviews are done for quality control purposes. This makes sense, as staff want to make sure that all of the processes are working properly. It may also help staff keep up with criteria, so it may be a way of doing continued training.
I dont think its necessary to always provide a citation to the staff comment especially when its a relatively standard piece of information, that crops up here in a regular basis. Posts would start to look a bit officious and daunting,
The Topic poster is welcome to ask more questions if they need further clarification and those questions can then be addressed.
I think the opposite, because it is standardized by staff you should be always referencing it. It would be more productive and informative for the OP to get the official information.
This is a community forum so most of the support is peer support by the community for the community.
Where necessary individuals will refer to relevant wayfarer team posts. Any member of the community is free to provide the reference if they deem it helpful.
Thank you for the replies, everyone. That all makes sense. I just had never seen that before, so I was like “Wait, did I do something wrong, what is happening?? ” Hopefully it’ll all be just fine. And if not for some reason, it’s just a photo I guess, lol.
There is more info about it in the help page for Contribution Management, but the text there still lists it as In Voting instead of Under Review . There’s also a diagram showing the different statuses, so it’s worth taking a look.
Niantic considers it “repurposing” to change a wayspots from one thing to another thing via edits, one example is when a business closes and a new business opens in the same location.
because of this, it seems that photo nominated for existing businesses which the ML system doesn’t recognize as the same business are far more likely to get flagged for internal review.
@RGTGO it seems you’re placing a lot of emphasis on the immediate citation of official statements in every reply. As @elijustrying highlighted, this platform is primarily designed for community members to support one another. If your goal is to only receive information directly from Wayfarer staff, then check help articles available here.
A General Reminder to Everyone
For those who choose to engage in the community forum, it’s important to understand that your contributions shape the environment. Comments that can be interpreted as accusatory or as an attempt to create conflict go against the spirit of collaborative discussion we aim to foster. We ask all users to consider the impact of their words. Repeated instances of what appears to be deliberately contentious posting, particularly after receiving feedback, may result in necessary moderation actions.
You misunderstood me, but just to be clear: I am NOT seeking for every post to have a citation.
What I seek is: if someone makes reference to a Niantic post, they should provide that post. There is no demerit to adding an official source to substantiate one’s claims, it only adds to their credibility.
Some of the information we relay may come from the old wayfarer forum, rather than this one. This wayfarer forum is still relatively new, and the old one is only viewable using the wayback machine nowadays, which is often slow and clunky, and not exactly fun to navigate at the best of times.
The information from there is typically still valid, but it’s not necessarily reasonable to expect someone to spend ages trying to manually search an archive for a specific quote.
This is absolutely wrong. A statement with a credible source will always be more reliable than a statement made from memory. Niantic themselves follow this principle.
When you make an appeal to Niantic for a removal of a wayspot, does Niantic just rely on your memory of the wayspot being gone? No they ask you to provide credible sources to substantiate your claims. Because your memory is not enough.
Do you not see the problem here? The information may come from the old forum, it may come from the new forum or it may just be made up. No one can be sure unless it’s sourced.
How can the information still be valid if we haven’t even seen the information because no one wants to source it?
Something just happened recently, users were so adamant in their recollection of Niantic considering editing a wayspot from a correct location to a “more” correct location abuse.
But we just had a clarification, and guess what? The Niantic staff said that a move like that should be taken up with support. Far different than what was previously relayed.
In the first case, reviewers would be able to make an “abuse” judgment while they are reviewing, and the submitter would get in trouble. In the updated clarification reviewers would not be able to make a judgment, that would be up to the staff. Two different major outcomes.
” Hopefully it’ll all be just fine. And if not for some reason, it’s just a photo I guess, lol.
instead of Under Review