Everything I nominate gets rejected. I’ve nominated street art murals, little libraries, giving boxes, community boxes, blessing boxes…you see these as pokestops all over the world but yet everything here in Columbus, OH. Also the “potential reasons” they give you for rejections is extremely vague.
This is very frustrating to say the least. I’ve been playing since day one and have YET to get one approved!
Hello and welcome @OffensiveDaddy
The community here will be very happy to help and advise.
Some of things you mention are the sort of places that you would expect to be approved.
If you can post a few examples of submissions you thought might be accepted. If you can tell us roughly the area we have people who love to look around and help find candidates.
I am going to split this so that you can have a separate topic and get full attention.
Welcome to the forum!
It helps us advise if we can see screenshots from your contributions page. If you start a topic in this category, you get this prompt:
Please provide:
- A screenshot of your nomination, including rejection reasons if it has already been rejected
- Include the title, description, both photos, and supplemental information
- Copy and paste the title, description and supplemental so others can translate them
- If you feel comfortable please share the location, as it is helpful (i.e. hidden duplicates), but you can mask it if you wish.
It is usually easier to discuss one at a time, so I would love for you to start with the one you are most confused about not being accepted.
Whilst awaiting photos, I know in the past reviewers have rejected things like Blessing Boxes and Little Free Pantries as they can be sensitive for when people need extra support, and it’s not great to have people crowded around it doing a raid etc.
I would start with murals. My own first pokestop approved (last September) was a mural.
The main things with murals is that they pretty much automatically meet criteria (exploration), so you just need three things. Good pictures, access, and location.
Pictures -
You probably already know this but one good, close up centered shot for the potential photo disc. (No people in that one.) Up to five additional (if using web submit) to show surroundings.
Access -
They want the object to be pedestrian accessible. You can show this using your pictures - if possible, include a picture or two that show both the object and the ground or floor under it. I say floor because inside buildings is fine! (My first one is in a restaurant dining room.)
Location -
The location cannot be a single family residential property or a school. If it’s emergency services, keep clear of driveways and building entrances.
When using web submit, I like to make sure to have at least one picture of the exterior of the building with something distinctive (address, business sign, architectural element) that is visible from the street, in case someone wants to confirm location via Street View.
Once you get some approvals (for confidence), branch out to other forms of artwork. Larger churches, particularly Catholic and Orthodox, often have outdoor statuary on the grounds that is in a different cell than the building. Then branch out to athletic fields/courts/equipment - public parks are often large enough to cover multiple cells, and you might also find things at hotels and apartment complexes. (A lot of my recent ones are apartment complex swimming pools.) And so on.
The problem I have with “murals” is most of the ones that I see in review are not really “murals”. A mural is an original painting usually on a wall. Company logos, signs, framed paintings, etc. are not murals. Also a mural in a chain may or may not be unique, Firehouse Subs is famous for having unique murals in all their locations. They feature the local fire departments. Many other places have the same “mural” in every or many locations. These do not meet the unique criteria in my opinion. One of the first things I do in review is a reverse image search. This often will tell me how unique the mural is.
Oh, true, originality matters.
In my case, we have a local Mexican quick service chain, I believe their location count is in the 16-20 range, all but two of which are in my county… they have unique murals, sometimes more than one, inside every location. I’ve personally nominated three of them.