Sorry, but this is just ridiculous. I just got a warning Email for a Wayspot I have submitted, got rejected and the appeal rejected as well.
The Nomination was rejected with “The text or photo contains abusive, mocking or harassing content about a specific person or group of people.”. Theres nothing of the sort in my pictures or texts.
I’m fed up with this. Time and time again the Team rejects appeals for perfectly fine wayspots because they don’t understand how hike trails are marked and why those are permanent. I even added a youtube video about that topic to the nomination, wich clearly got ignored.
The Team needs MUCH better education on this topic. This is a perfectly normal Trailmarker, wich is permanent as stated on many occasions.
I want this taken back. I did nothing wrong other than trust your appeals team, wich obviously has not got sufficient training on Trailmarkers as Anchorpoints for hike trails as wayspots.
Hello Explorer,
Following a report and an internal investigation performed by our team, we have confirmed that the content you contributed on 4/11/25, 9:44:27 PM UTC is violating one or more policies. We have taken action against it.
Here is more information:
Content: Westerwald Hauptwanderweg I am Kallenbachparkplatz
Policy Violated: Generic very low severity offense
We recommend you review our Player Guidelines and the Wayfarer Criteria before resuming your contributions to the Niantic Map.
If you think this decision was made in error and would like to submit an appeal, please contact us.
The Wayfarer Team
This is a hiking trail, which is, of course, permanent. Trail markings are regularly renewed. A video of how hiking trails are marked in Germany: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84EryF7hwo4 This link shows a map of the trail to verify the route at this point: Westerwald-Hauptwanderweg I von Königswinter nach Herborn | GPS Wanderatlas
Anmerkung von Niantic
Thanks for the appeal, Explorer! The trail marker in question does not meet the Wayfarer criteria as it is a sticker which seems temporary. If this assessment is not accurate, please resubmit the nomination with additional context. We recommend you review the Wayspot Criteria before submitting your next Wayspot contribution: Wayfarer — Niantic Technical Support and Help Center
Reviewers primarily cited these reasons for rejection:
- This suggestion is unlikely to be permanent.
- The text or photo contains abusive, derogatory, or harassing content directed at a specific person or group of people.
The Westerwald Main Hiking Trail I largely served as a model for the Westerwaldsteig. The route from Kroppacher Schweiz near Hachenburg via Bad Marienberg into the High Westerwald to the Fuchskaute and then down past Erdbach into the Dill Valley near Herborn is similar to the Westerwaldsteig in many respects. Only the western stages in the Rhine-Westerwald differ significantly.
Maps of the trail: - Westerwald-Hauptwanderweg I von Königswinter nach Herborn | GPS Wanderatlas - - Waymarked Trails - Hiking - Here’s a video showing how hiking trails are marked in Germany: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84EryF7hwo4 - POI refers to the hiking trail, not the marker. This serves only as an anchor point for the wayspot.
More imortant then revoking this ridiculous decision is to start training your appeals team on the matter. They clearly have no idea what they’re doing when it comes to Hike Trails.
I’ll tag @NianticAaron here because i want this to be looked at by the team and I’d like a response on how this happened, or a reasonable explaination on how uploading this to wayfarer was an offense to the criteria. Because I can not see it at all. Especially the abusive text/picture accusation is simply ridiculous, and even worth an apology for. I would never do such a thing. I’m really upset about this.
