Removal Rejection Appeal

Wayspot Appeals
1

  • Wayspot Title: Portrait of a Savior

  • Location (lat/lon): 42.381385, -71.091293

  • City: Somerville, MA

  • Country: USA

  • Screenshot of the Rejection Email (do not include your personal information):

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  • Additional Information (if any): This “shrine” is just a picture frame decorated with Christmas lights hung on the front of someone’s house not meeting the requirement of the spot being permanent or distinct. The location is also on someone’s private residence and shouldn’t have been accepted as a Wayspot based on the review criteria. Not sure why the rejection was rejected but would like more clarity on this as I actively submit spots when I can. Google Maps street view of this picture frame:

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2

Maybe the Niantic staff member looked at the precise streetview location of this wayspot, found they couldn’t see the POI so therefore couldn’t guarantee it is on SFPRP and rejected the report.

If you take one step to the left, the object that is the POI is clearly there on the porch of single-family private residential property.

That’s a really really poor removal rejection.

3

Thanks for the appeal, @ryorghas! We took another look at the Wayspot in question and decided that it does not meet our criteria for removal at this time.

4

Thanks. Could you determine how you came to this decision? Do you need me to provide more proof that this spot is a picture frame that can be removed/moved at any time? If not, then does this type of ornament qualify for future Wayspot nominations?

5

I was shocked at this decision, too, but Zillow and other listings show this as a multi-family unit. I guess the front porch is a common area :woman_facepalming:

6

So that really is two door buzzers on that door??

7

I don’t see one. Looks like just one front door. I am just going by the listings.

This clearly is a personal item located on private property to me, even if technically it is a multi-family unit. Such a bad decision, imo.

8

I have submitted items (small statues, etc.) on multi-family homes with Zillow listings as evidence, but they have been rejected because they are private property–but most likely because they are decorations people have bought and placed in their yard, etc. This is similar hence I would like to know the consensus on this to keep things consistent.

If a decision is made like this one, can this become precedent for future Wayspot rejections appeals?

9

No.

Appeals do not set precedent, whether they are appeals the community agree with or disagree with.

Generally, removal criteria are more strict than acceptance criteria, so it is possible for something to be accepted that doesn’t meet submission criteria (through reviewer errors or otherwise), but not possible to get it removed. This appears to be an example of this, somehow.

10

Not how it should be, in my opinion. I understand if it causes issues for the server or AR mapping map if certain spots are removed, but a simple Wayspot that has nothing else attached to it shouldn’t make much of an impact if removed.

11

It actually makes some sense that removing is harder than adding. There would be the risk of wars between different groups, especially if they resorted to faking evidence when submitting removal reports. Even without the factional wars of Ingress, there is still the potential for different people to have different opinions, especially when a person or people want to move a gym by force.

12

When appeals for removals at businesses are rejected, I usually suggest trying to contact the business to let them know the game location is there. I can usually find a “Contact us” email and just let them know about it. Then they can contact Niantic for removal if they want it gone. Most of the time they appreciate the head’s up and do have it removed. And the rest of the time, they ignore the message. Niantic will do removals for property owners.

In a situation like this, I am not sure how to reach out to the homeowner to tell them about the game location existing there. Maybe a neighborhood app like NextDoor? The Pokestop could be their doing, or they could have no idea it is there. Since Niantic has let this remain in game, feel free to use the Pokestop. But don’t put yourself in harm’s way if the homeowner gets angry.

13

It’s not keeping me up at night, but there are plenty of spots in that area I found the other day when visiting that made me raise a few eyebrows hence the removal request. Thanks for everyone’s input! :slight_smile: