Request for Manual Review: Incorrect 30-Day Suspension for Municipally Approved Public Art (Official Evidence Attached)

[AparticleArtist]

Hello Wayfarer Team / Community Managers,

I kindly request a **manual review** of my 30-day suspension, as I believe my account was incorrectly flagged for “abuse” despite my nominations being **official, municipally approved, permanent public artworks** in Zwolle, The Netherlands.

-–

## **Summary of the Issue**

I nominated several public art installations in my neighborhood, including a permanently mounted insect hotel at **Dr. Schaepmanlaan / Troelstralaan**. These artworks were:

* **Municipally approved**

* **Permanently placed in public space**

* **Publicly accessible**

* **Documented as part of a neighborhood art initiative**

Despite this, I received a 30-day suspension with accusations such as:

* “fake contributions”

* “harassment”

* “influencing reviewers”

* “voting rings”

* “low-quality submissions”

None of these accusations are applicable to my behavior or my nominations.

This strongly suggests that my account was incorrectly flagged by automated systems and that my appeal evidence was not evaluated.

-–

## **Official Municipal Approval (Evidence Provided)**

I received written confirmation from **Monique Wiegers**, District Manager (Wijkregisseur Stadsdeel Zuid) of the Municipality of Zwolle, stating:

> *“Helemaal goed en wat mooi gemaakt. Ik zorg dat ie in de kaart komt.”*

> (“All good and beautifully made. I will make sure it is added to the map.”)

This confirms that the insect hotel and related artworks were officially approved and intended as permanent public installations.

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## **Public Documentation of the Art Project**

The neighborhood art project is publicly documented at:

**[https://aparticle.nl/kunst.html\\]( Kunst | Aparticle kunst sieraden handgemaakte cadeaus gift )**

This page shows the permanent artworks, the community involvement, and their context as a municipal initiative.

-–

## **Why This Suspension Is Incorrect**

The support replies I received:

* did **not** reference or acknowledge any of the evidence provided,

* accused me of actions that are factually impossible in my situation (e.g., harassment, voting rings),

* and consisted entirely of generic template messages.

A 30-day suspension is normally associated with intentional abuse (e.g., spoofing, manipulation), not legitimate public art nominations with municipal approval.

I believe this is a **false abuse flag**, caused by reviewers misunderstanding local community art or misinterpreting new installations.

-–

## **What I Am Requesting**

I respectfully request:

A **manual review** by a Wayfarer Team Lead or the **Wayfarer Enforcement Oversight Team**

Consideration of the attached **official municipal documentation**

Correction of the incorrectly applied suspension

I am happy to provide any additional information if needed.

# **Attachments (supporting evidence)**

**1. Official municipal approval (PDF)**

Contains email confirmation from the Municipality of Zwolle (district manager Monique Wiegers) verifying official approval of the artwork.

*RE: Nieuw insectenhotel geplaatst – Dr. Schaepmanlaan/Troelstralaan — Inkomend.pdf*

**2. Full Niantic support correspondence (PDF)**

Shows all support responses, including non-specific templates and multiple incorrect allegations that do not apply to my case, demonstrating that my evidence was not reviewed.

*[38910895] 2 Wayfarer Abuse Enforcement Ladder Policy — Inkomend.pdf*

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

I hope this misunderstanding can be resolved through a proper review.

Kind regards,

Liesbeth

[CrownFeather]

@AparticleArtist

• “fake contributions”
• “harassment”
• “influencing reviewers”
• “voting rings”
• “low-quality submissions”

I assume this is the response you received from the Wayfarer Team regarding your appeal. While I don’t know the details of your communication with them, please know that this is a standard template message. It doesn’t mean you actually did all the things listed; it just means they have flagged you for at least one of those categories.
I honestly wish they would stop using these template responses for Wayfinders who are genuinely confused and distressed by a suspension. While this template might be effective for deliberate abusers, it is completely unhelpful for Wayfinders who aren’t aware of any specific mistakes they might have made.
A member of the team will likely reply to this thread or send you a DM. I can’t say for sure if the suspension will be overturned—it is possible there was an error in your submission—but I truly hope you get a result that you can accept.

[AMG7070]

Hello,

Sorry for your situation.

As @CrownFeather explained the text is a standard message that pops up when any abuse is seen in your submission.

The most common reason is that the submission was misplaced. Feel free to provide all the evidence once a staff member has opened up a DM with you,

good luck

[AparticleArtist]

Thank you again for the clarification.
What confused me the most is that the first warning and the first suspension message only mentioned “low-quality submissions.”
If the issue was only “low quality” based on reviewer opinion, it feels difficult to understand how that can directly result in a 30-day suspension.

Low quality can sometimes simply be a matter of interpretation or reviewer opinion — not intentional abuse.
So it is very stressful to receive a serious penalty for something that appears to be subjective rather than malicious.

[AparticleArtist]

That makes things much clearer.
I have all my evidence ready (including the municipal approval email and photos) and will share everything as soon as a staff member opens a DM with me.
I really appreciate your help and explanations.
PDF files cannot be uploaded on the forum

[AparticleArtist]

[AparticleArtist]

[iFrankmans]

Putting this here for the proper context: Deeply Affected by False Accusations – Seeking Understanding

I do not understand why after all that feedback, these specific wayspots have to get into the games. I would recommend to keep improving the neighbourhood, but not use that to impact the gameboard. As has been said before.

[elijustrying]

Hi,

Thanks for posting, it is a stressful time.

I am going to move this to General Discussion area as that is normally where questions like this go.

You have already provided a lot of information I think it is now a question of waiting for a wayfarer Team DM, so please be patient.

[NianticAaron]

Hey @AparticleArtist ,

I have shared the details through a DM. Please review.

Thanks,

[AparticleArtist]

Thanks for your message.
All of my removed nominations were public art pieces placed with municipal approval.
In my area, approval is often given verbally first and only confirmed in writing if something goes wrong — which is why I have one email confirmation from the district manager for the insect hotel.
I will gladly provide the full evidence directly to Niantic staff once they open a DM.
For now, I prefer not to share more details publicly.

[AparticleArtist]

That one is closed a long time ago. I can not change anything there of provide evidence.

[iFrankmans]

@AparticleArtist

I can not change anything there of provide evidence.

No but you have been provided the feedback there already, and I find it important that other forum visitors see those warnings as well such that they can learn from it.

[salixsorbus]

Thank you for posting this. I remember that thread (and commented on it), which was basically about official public art compared to adding things into the public sphere just to get them as wayspots. It’s very good to be reminded that this post by the OP is a continuation of that.

[AparticleArtist]

Thank you for your message, Aaron.
For clarity to the community: the DM I received did not resolve the issue nor did it address the municipal approval or evidence I offered to provide.

The objects in question were placed in the public space with explicit permission from the Municipality of Zwolle as part of a neighborhood art initiative, and some were even later accepted as valid Wayspots.
There seems to be a misunderstanding regarding the nature and origin of these installations.

As the matter appears to be considered closed on your end, I will not continue the discussion here.
I simply want to clarify publicly that the DM I received did not resolve the concerns I raised.

Thank you.

[salixsorbus]

@AparticleArtist

I simply want to clarify publicly that the DM I received did not resolve the concerns I raised.

That isn’t always possible. Sometimes people want something that is impossible. Niantic provide the correct information that resolves everything that can be resolved, but the OP wants more, always more. This appears to be one of those cases.

[iFrankmans]

@AparticleArtist

some were even later accepted as valid Wayspots

Just to clarify, if something gets accepted as a wayspot it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a valid wayspot. It means the community rated it as such. There are plenty of existing wayspots on school grounds or on single family private residential property, just because these were once accepted does not make those valid.

EDIT: You should never use existing wayspots as a way to determine validity. But always check the Wayfarer criteria for validity.

[AMG7070]

i still get lots of accepted mosaic tiles in my area, just because the community accepts them. A perfect example where the community makes mistakes.

Never use existing wayspots as examples for your own submissions, submissions are based on the wayfarer criteria.

[AMG7070]

Oops, you were ahead of me with your edit

[weyrcat]

I wish you luck. They dinged me too, for submitting a new mural in my area. Maybe they just don’t like the Netherlands. #Amsterdam