So confused! Rejection Questions Re: “Contains Abuse”

[djinnieleigh]

Hi,

I have made several Pokestop nominations, and most have been approved… this one, I thought, would be a very straight-forward approval. It’s a hand-painted Pokemon mural in a mall trading card game shop.

However, it was auto-rejected and the appeal was denied. In the appeal rejection note, it said the POI doesn’t exist there and people said it CONTAINS ABUSE… there’s no abuse that I see, and I went to the mall and saw a hand-painted Pokemon mural (it’s there, it exists, I was literally there on Sunday, and while mall-location determination is harder than stuff outside, I am pretty positive I did put the location marker in the right place because it’s very near another marker).

Can anyone tell me, first, why it could have been flagged by Niantic automatically? And then second, what could be construed as abuse? I’m so confused as to what could be considered abusive in this?

Otherwise, the only thing I can think of is that the acceptance criteria says “no obviously photoshopped pictures,” which I don’t think this is, but I did remove one person’s head because it was exceptionally hard to get a pic when no one was in front of the mural because there are tables there where people play.

Text pasted below and screenshots attached. Thank you for helping!

Wayspot Submission for
Pokémon Mural at Clay Collects
Chesapeake VA
APPEAL NOT ACCEPTED
2026-07-05
Appeal Notes
I am not sure why this would be auto-declined. It is a huge, hand-painted mural dedicated to Pokemon within a gaming store.
Niantic Note
Thanks for the appeal, Wayfinder! The Wayspot in question does not exist at the nominated location and has been submitted at incorrect location. We recommend to review and adhere to the Wayspot criteria and guidelines (Wayfarer — Niantic Technical Support and Help Center
wayfarer/) before you submit any further nominations

Reviewers provided these top reasons for not accepting this submission:

• The submission contains abuse

Description
A vibrant Pokémon mural welcoming visitors to Clay Collects, a veteran-owned trading card shop. Featuring beloved Pokémon characters, this colorful storefront has become a recognizable landmark for collectors and fans gathering to trade, play, and celebrate the hobby.

Location
1401 Greenbrier Pkwy, Chesapeake, VA 23320, USA
Supplemental Information

1 / 5

This nomination is for the permanent storefront mural, not the business itself. The artwork is a large, fixed installation visible from the mall concourse and serves as a recognizable gathering point for the local Pokémon community. Clay Collects is a veteran-owned shop dedicated to Pokémon collecting and regularly brings enthusiasts together through events and community engagement. Safe pedestrian access is available throughout the mall.

[cyndiepooh]

Welcome to the forum!

Do you still have the acknowledgement email from submitting the nomination? The exact coordinates you pinned at will be after the photos, here:

As best I can tell from your screenshot, you pinned this outdoors, which puts it in an empty L17 S2 cell, which is abuse the Wayfarer team takes very seriously.

[hankwolfman]

Looking at the location pin for your nomination, it is located outside the building beside the car park, whilst your photos suggest the nomination is an indoor location. That’s why you got marked for abuse and why the appeal reviewer has stated the nomination doesn’t exist at that location. I’m not sure why you placed the pin where you did, but you need to place the pin on the actual object you’re nominating.

Also, the business itself sounds like it would be a good thing to nominate for what it’s worth.

[cyndiepooh]

@hankwolfman

Also, the business itself sounds like it would be a good thing to nominate for what it’s worth.

Agree!!

[CrownFeather]

Greenbrier Mall Map Directory

Welcome to the forum.
I’m sorry—I’m from Japan, so I might be wrong—but I don’t see a store called “Clay Collect” on this floor map. Is it a new store?

[hankwolfman]

It might just be that the directory isn’t up to date. The business (Clay Collects) has a website that lists its address as Unit 2106 in this mall.

[djinnieleigh]

Hi!

Thank you for helping to explain a possibility. I saw the mall outline and had it within the outline during the submission process, and I used another waypoint in the mall to cross-reference the location, but now I’m wondering if when I scrolled on my phone to continue the submission process, I may have inadvertently moved the location pin.

These are the coordinates from the submission email:

36.779278, -76.226417

If that is the case, I wish that the initial flag of it had said inaccurate location or something. All it did was say it didn’t meet Wayfarer criteria, so I didn’t realize I should have corrected the location and resubmitted rather than appealed… I feel bad for having the “abusive” ding on my record.

[CrownFeather]

I compared the floor map with Google Maps and marked the location. The actual location is somewhere near the center of this shopping mall. The specified location is incorrect.
When sending indoor location requests, I don’t rely on GPS signals, which can sometimes be inaccurate. Instead, I compare the floor map with Google Maps, switch to aerial photos to identify landmarks, and set a pin at that location.

[djinnieleigh]

Hi!

Thanks for responding. I don’t often go to this particular mall, so I thought maybe it was new, but I see it on the directory I looked up, and it’s also on Google as located in Greenbrier Mall, so I feel like if someone flagged it as not existing, they should have been able to look it up online and confirm.

[cyndiepooh]

@djinnieleigh

not existing,

the issue is not existing where you pinned it

[djinnieleigh]

Hello!

I saw the mall outline and had it within the outline during the submission process, and I used another waypoint in the mall to cross-reference the location, but now I’m wondering if when I scrolled on my phone to continue the submission process, I may have inadvertently moved the location pin.

[cyndiepooh]

I have absolutely done that and had to fix it later. Did you get any kind of formal warning for this? I think just take this as a sign to be more careful.

[salixsorbus]

A visual. The red marker is where you submitted the wayspot. The blue spot in the cell to the left of this is close to where the store actually exists. It isn’t possible for your location to be correct and it would do best to admit why you did this, since it is almost certainly to put the wayspot into an empty cell where it does not exist - this is abuse and is why your submission got flagged for abuse.

[djinnieleigh]

This is great advice; thank you. The geolocation on my photos was slightly off, so I attempted to adjust them, and I had no problem with other ones, but now I’m wondering if when I scrolled on my phone to continue the submission process, I may have inadvertently moved the location pin, as I saw the mall outline and had it within the outline during the submission process, and I used another waypoint in the mall to cross-reference the location.

[cyndiepooh]

@djinnieleigh

Can anyone tell me, first, why it could have been flagged by Niantic automatically?

We have been addressing the second question, but not the first. The Wayfarer team does not reveal exactly what triggers an “automated process” rejection. That information could be used abusively.

[djinnieleigh]

Thank you! I think I may have inadvertently moved my pin when scrolling to finish the submission process. I don’t know anything about the cell stuff, and I feel bad having a ding on my record. I love finding little POIs to add in, but almost all of mine are outside, so it’s always been quite easy to have my geolocation match the data pulled from my photo, and I don’t need to adjust them. This one, being inside a place with not great cell reception, I had to adjust the location slightly, but I had it in the mall outline near the other close Waypoint, and I think maybe when I scrolled, I hadn’t re-“fixed” the map to keep it from moving, so I think it moved the location slightly, causing it to be off.

[djinnieleigh]

Ah, thank you for letting me know!

[cyndiepooh]

@djinnieleigh

I feel bad having a ding on my record

If you did not receive a formal separate email with a warning, I don’t think you have a strike. Maybe @NianticAaron will check and confirm either way.

[TjoeMi]

The warning are there so that next time you always make sure that you put in extra effort to recheck your nomination.

Just to be clear, did you receive any of this?

[CrownFeather]

It’s possible you made a mistake when submitting the application, but even in that case, you must double-check using the receipt notification email or similar.
Also, simply placing the pin within the outline of the shopping mall isn’t enough. While it may be difficult to pinpoint the exact location of the mural itself, it’s absolutely necessary to place the pin within the card shop’s store.