Subject: Stuck at Fair Rating - Looking for Advice to Improve
Hey Wayfarers,
I’ve been reviewing for a while now and I’m stuck at a Fair rating. I really want to get better at this, but I’m struggling to figure out what I’m doing wrong.
I started playing in 2022 with my girlfriends - it was our thing, you know? We’d explore new neighborhoods together hunting for stops and gyms, planning routes, making it this whole adventure. They got me into Wayfarer last year because i was always spotting cool murals and little free libraries that should’ve been wayspots. One of my friends got banned from the game bc she submitted a photo edit, and added a new photo. Her name was Kelly.
We broke up about a year ago, and honestly, the game became kind of my anchor. Kept me getting outside, gave me something to focus on. I got more serious about Wayfarer because I wanted to help improve the map - felt like I was doing something positive and contributing to the community that kept me going through a rough time.
But I’ve been stuck at Fair for over two months now despite really trying to improve. I’ve done around 1,200 reviews and I’ve read through the criteria so many times, but something’s not clicking.
I’m especially confused about:
Duplicates - When nominations are for the same general area but slightly different spots, how do you tell if it’s actually a duplicate?
Generic vs. unique businesses - Local coffee shops with interesting art or history - yay or nay?
Photo quality vs. criteria - If something clearly meets criteria but the photo is mediocre, how much does that matter?
I know I was probably too casual about it at first, but now I’m really trying to take it seriously and I want to earn my way to Good. This community matters to me.
Any advice from people who’ve climbed out of Fair? What made the difference for you?
Thanks for any help - I really appreciate it.
Generic business is a business that meets no criteria. A coffee shop can often be a good place to socialise so I think that meets criteria and can be accepted. The art could potentially be separately eligible from the shop itself. Art and history link to explore, while a cafe links to socialising usually.
Duplicates are for when you can see the exact same item listed nearby. If something nearby is similar, that’s something for you to decide if this is distinct enough or not. If there were for example 3 statues in the area, and all similar style but different names and different poses, then those are not duplicates. However if you can see the exact same statue, then that is a duplicate.
Photos have their own guidelines, but essentially if the photo shows the item, isn’t super blurry, and doesn’t show people in the foreground, or visible license plates, then its likely to be fine. It does not have to be a great picture, just a clear one that shows what the item is.
I have stated this on other threads and got replies stating that I am wrong but it worked for me.
The simple answer is take your time. I would switch between “Map” and “Satellite” and use “Street View” even if I didn’t need to.
Doing this I quickly went to Great and I have stayed there since.
It could be just that by taking more time I was making better decisions but whatever the reason it worked for me
Other suggestions I have seen is to do a few at a time and see if that has any effect on your ratings then do a few more. If you do 1000 bad decisions in 1 go it’s too late once your ratings show this…
I am also a big user of the “Skip”, if I am not sure I Skip it. Skips are limited to 100 per 24 hours but that should be plenty.
We were saying that just the fact that you switched between map and satellite view is not a trick that made your rating go up. But checking both of those is definitely is a good thing to do. You don’t need the disclaimer that you have been told you are wrong when you give this great advice to slow down and really consider each nomination.
It was a “trick” that worked. There are many reviews where there is no need to check anything apart from the default view (think standard map states “ Post Office” and the photo shows the show sign stating the same). When my thought was “that 1 is obvious, Accept” my Rating went down, when I changed to “that 1 is obvious, Click Satellite and drop in to Street View for no reason then Accept” my reason went up.
It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t the actual switching maps that increased the rating but just the extra time taken it still worked…
Just passingby but isn’t the point of review cooldown is to detect pattern reviewing/not following guideline or reviewing too quick? Why I feel like this discussion getting derailed into “Trick and tips to avoid cooldown” by…switching between map instead of… reviewing truthfully and carefully?
I’d echo what others have stated here, take your time and go for small batches of reviews at a slow pace. One thing about duplicates I don’t see stated here - for areas like playgrounds, if the playground itself is in game in some way then any other piece of individual equipment on the same pad could be considered a duplicate. Same for sports fields, of course….let’s say Wayfarer Golf Course is in game, and somebody nominates Wayfarer Golf Course Hole 3 Sign or some such. I’d definitely reject that second nomination as a duplicate, despite it being real, permanent, accurately placed, publicly accessible and visually different from the original Wayspot as the whole course is a single field of play.
There is no “trick” to help increase your review rating. As others have said, take your time and use all the tools at your disposal; we do get 20 minutes to complete a review before it times out. Make sure you’re following the criteria and guidelines, and if you have any questions, check the help center as well as the forums, as there’s a lot of good info available.
Also, the burden of proof is on the submitter to prove that whatever is nominated meets criteria and should be a Wayspot; there may be times that this proof isn’t provided and you may have to dig a little deeper online. If I get a local restaurant and little info is provided, I will try to find more info online, such as reviews, website/social media, anything that could help prove that it’s a great place to be social and possibly explore. If I can’t find any additional info, I’m going to lean more towards rejecting.
Lastely, one good place here in the forums to take a look at is the Criteria Clarification Collection, as it covers some of the most discussed POIs and locations, such as generic/non-generic businesses.
