I’ve had several reports denied and this is incredibly frustrating. The desire to come here and try get these appealed is a lot of work. Asking me to tell you again where they are, to take pictures or explain why when the feature should be streamlined in game.
I reported a user made Starbucks waypoint, in ingress I have a waypoint created to match a Starbucks location. My report got denied. This makes no sense, do you not have a system that tags sponsored waypoints? Do you not stop to see this area has 2 Pokestops with the same name?
When someone reports a waypoint to be removed they should be asked to give a brief reason. You don’t have to trust this, as should be involved in your training but you should be able to have a starting point. If you wanted to have photo proof here you should put it in the report, so I don’t have to drive to the location twice. This is a tremendous loss of time for employees and players alike.
Since sponsored pokestops and portals don’t show on the Wayfarer map - I guess can see how it got added. Although it was a mistake, because it’s a generic business.
But removal reasons are a small subset of acceptance criteria. Mostly they’re only things Niantic could be sued over (unsafe, obstructs emergencyservices, or school). They added duplicate and permanently removed just because they’re easy to check I guess.
Yes, I wish I could remove the Chipotle that has a user-submitted Wayspot, but it currently does not meet removal criteria, which is strict. It most likely was approved during the global challenge in December 2023, especially since I never remember seeing it in review, some outside of the US might not know it’s a chain, and it’s not sponsored and on the Lightship map.
It would be nice to have generic business as a removal request option, but I can see it being abused for non-generic businesses. Some don’t think non-generic businesses, like a local coffee shop, book store, diner, fitness studio etc, should meet criteria and would like them removed. But Niantic has clarified that locally-owned businesses can be eligible, as long as they meet the social/exercise/explore criteria.
Adding generic business to the removal requests would also increase the workload for Niantic, and it has been taking over a week in some cases for removal requests to be decided. So, if you have users abusing this option, it would hurt those submitting valid requests, as they could take longer to be decided.
I don’t understand, why would you report the Starbucks?
There is one not far from me that I submitted. It is Sponsored in GO but does not appear in the other Niantic games that I play. Sponsorship does not affect eligibility, the sponsorship only gets it into the game(s) that it’s paying to be in.
They aren’t reporting a sponsored Starbucks near you.
They’re reporting a non-sponsored Starbucks near them. Starbucks paid for a certain number, and giving them free ones undermines the revenue source.
Sponsored stops are only seen in PoGo, and sponsored portals only show in Ingress. Neither appear on Wayfarer or any other game or app. (Altho sponsored portals show up on the Ingress Intel map, and therefore the IITC map.)
Non-sponsored stops show up across all games, and Wayfarer.
I’ll bet whoever approved it didn’t know about the sponsorship. It was omitted from their training, or was mentioned and they forgot.
I understand how the sponsorship works. I’m not sure all the details you mentioned are relevant?
Starbucks paying for a sponsorship does not affect eligibility to be nominated & approved. Whether a sponsorship currently or ever existed does not mean something should be rejected by the community or by Niantic.
To me clear, here I’m saying I nominated one to be a Wayspot. The location is sponsored in GO, however it’s also a place where I like to go to socialize with friends. Once approved, it is up to the games how they choose to incorporate (or not) into their respective maps.
Most of my cafes & coffee shops have gone through but I did have to resubmit an early brewery attempt of mine I think the US has just been more friendly than most other areas with cafes. But maybe there was simply a luck factor from me, too.
It’s not in Niantic’s best interest to submit or approve them.
But none of us volunteer reviewers are party to their business agreements. So they don’t matter to us (unless Niantic said to, which they haven’t).
I think both parties in that Starbucks sponsorship have forgotten about the deal. No new ones go live and no old ones get removed. At least around here. And the sponsorship only shows in one game and has no bearing on whether it is eligible to be a Wayspot.
I think Starbucks pays a flat fee monthly, or once a year, and doesn’t think of those details.
Circle K used to sponsor Ingress portals in the U.S, but after years (with no changes for new or closing stores) they decided not to renew. So all those portals disappeared. INCLUDING most that agents had nominated, thinking they were valid. I still see a stray one every now and then.
Softbank and Axa also sponsor portals, but none in the SE that I know of.
Holiday, a brand that is owned by Circle K, did have stops for awhile in PoGo, but were removed a couple years ago. The only one in my area that still has one is for their dining area, which has a very nice fireplace, and is a nice place to socialize.
As for the Starbucks, yes, the sponsorship happened in December 2016 with PoGo; there was even a special PoGo drink advertised on the stops at the time. While the drink is now on the secret menu (most stores have everything to make it), and the Starbucks logo appears, it would seem that maybe Starbucks is paying a smaller amount for the sponsored stops than the used to.
As someone in the US, I still get a lot of chain cafes like Starbucks coming through review, and I always reject for generic business. Most are in large cities, or there are other great Wayspots already around them. There’s many other chain cafes, like Caribou, Peet’s, Scooter’s, Dutch Bros, and Dunkin, and I also reject them for generic businesses. There are actually many locally owned cafes and coffee shops out there; you just have to look for them.
I’m really just trying to get Niantic to make removals easier, for all parties involved, people here suggest removals instead of repurposing but removing is 100 times harder.
If something should be removed and it gets denied it’s most likely because the employee doesn’t understand the assignment, not because criteria is strict. Didn’t want to start a Starbucks debate, I have a closed pizza hut that has wallpaper as a “mural” it’s been declined twice.
I think the US has just been more friendly than most other areas with cafes. But maybe there was simply a luck factor from me, too.