Unable to Change Primary Photo in Pokémon Go

[hankwolfman]

Description:

Whilst I realise this applies to one game specifically (and I have filed a bug report in that game regarding the issue), one of the ambassadors (@elijustrying) suggested it may be relevant to raise this issue here as it is Wayfarer adjacent. I also was told that @SerAmanda may have input for this topic.

In Pokémon Go, sometimes when a photo has the most up votes, it does not become the primary photo for the Pokéstop as it should do. This doesn’t happen on every stop, but I have seen it happen multiple times, and have heard of reports of it happening for other people.

As an example, here is one of the stops affected by this issue:

Starbeck Tennis Club (54.003618, -1.498100)

Here is what it looks like in Ingress first:

You can see that the primary photo has the most up votes, with 3. Now, let’s see how it looks in Pokémon Go:

As you can see, the most up voted photo, which is the same photo that has the most up votes in Ingress, is not the primary image in Pokémon Go. In this case, an old photo with 0 up votes is instead the primary photo used in Pokémon Go, even though this shouldn’t be the case.

Date first (or most recently) experienced:

For Starbeck Tennis Club specifically, this issue dates back to February 2022. I have experienced it with another Wayspot in April 2024 though, so it is clearly an ongoing issue.

Device type, model, and operating system:

Not device specific.

Game & Game Version (if applicable):

Pokémon Go, all versions since the beginning of February 2022, possibly versions before then.

[seaprincesshnb]

I responded in DM.

[DTrain2002]

While I agree that this is an issue, I don’t feel it’s a Wayfarer issue. I also feel that it’s a minor issue, and doesn’t affect game play.

[hankwolfman]

Yeah, like I said, it’s more wayfarer adjacent than wayfarer specific. I originally had no plans to post it here as a standalone post, but @elijustrying saw that I mentioned it in another thread and encouraged me to make this thread, so I figured I would act on that. It does kinda nullify the point of submitting and reviewing new photos in wayfarer if they’re not going to be able to become the main photo used for the wayspot.

I’m gonna see if what @seaprincesshnb messaged me with will help, though it might take a while for me to do what was suggested.

[AliceWonder1511]

@DTrain2002

While I agree that this is an issue, I don’t feel it’s a Wayfarer issue. I also feel that it’s a minor issue, and doesn’t affect game play.

Hi
My experience was, that I reported this in app in pogo and they answered, that I have to choose a form for theire didicated team. In the end I reported the same problem via wayfarer help chat and they solved it by request.
For me it seems, that it is wayfarer related.

[cyndiepooh]

noting that i can see this post again following up from other discussion. now i want to see if it shows up in my topics, which it wasn’t

(edit: it did)

[frealafgb]

Seems wayfarer related to me, because sometimes a dodgy “duplicate” decision can cause some beautiful picture mismatches. And the wayfarer system is the way to correct this ie submitting new photos and other edits. The photo gets added and then is never seen by anyone unless they click through a lot of sub menus.

[26thDoctor]

I was under the impression that Ingress and Go photo likes are completely separate from each other and one doesn’t effect the other.

Is that still true?

[tehstone]

Ingress votes prior to some date still count, as you can imagine this is a major headache. And then it’s pogo votes that determine what the main photo will be in the wayfarer review system, geospatial browser, wayfarer app, and… probably some other places i’m forgetting.

[DTrain2002]

Hmm…

So, I decided to check this out with one of the gyms I’ve uploaded a photo to, as well as upvoted photos on. The main photo at the gym has 2 votes in PoGo, yet there is another with 4 votes and does show the Wayspot as it currently is. The main photo was uploaded 10 years ago, and doesn’t have a username connected to it. The photo with the most votes was uploaded 3 years ago and has a username tagged. Here’s what I have found for this gym:

Location: 46.848116948171814, -96.80686442749095

Main photo on disk:

All photos that have been uploaded:

Main disk photo (bottom left in above screenshot):

Photo with most votes in PoGo (top left photo, username removed):

So, it seems as if upvotes in other games affect the main photos in PoGo, but upvotes from PoGo doesn’t affect other games, possibly?

[eneeoh]

Your speculation is that Ingress ‘likes’ affect which photo is featured in PoGo (even when they are not visible to players), and also affect the portal in Ingress itself, but PoGo ‘likes’ have no effect upon other games?

If so, PoGo devs need to choose between:
a) Show the counts they are using
b) Use the counts they are showing

[cyndiepooh]

The key words are Ingress likes “used to” affect Pogo. They do not anymore with current votes. I frequently will like different photos in the different games to have the best one showing for that game, since the photos are displayed differently.

Before the Lightship database existed, Ingress was the database. So actions had to be performed in that game, and affected both games. When they moved to Lightship as the database, they separated this function. However, some old votes got trapped at the time and are still counting towards Pogo photos. Only we can’t tell which ones. Those old photos usually have a lot of likes from people trying to figure out how a pokestop became a gym. (But trying to manipulate which is a gym now has been called abuse.

[26thDoctor]

Thank you.

[26thDoctor]

@cyndiepooh

The key words are Ingress likes “used to” affect Pogo. They do not anymore with current votes. I frequently will like different photos in the different games to have the best one showing for that game, since the photos are displayed differently.

Before the Lightship database existed, Ingress was the database. So actions had to be performed in that game, and affected both games. When they moved to Lightship as the database, they separated this function. However, some old votes got trapped at the time and are still counting towards Pogo photos. Only we can’t tell which ones. Those old photos usually have a lot of likes from people trying to figure out how a pokestop became a gym. (But trying to manipulate which is a gym now has been called abuse.

As an example, I’ve seen many more like this.

That Wayspot has always been a gym, there has been no need for Go players to try to effect it. Maybe by Ingress players trying to remove it as I know they can get extremely bitter with each over a silly game and some are happy to abuse the map to further that. That’s their problem though.

The last image is the main Go picture.

[AliceWonder1511]

@26thDoctor

@cyndiepooh

The key words are Ingress likes “used to” affect Pogo. They do not anymore with current votes. I frequently will like different photos in the different games to have the best one showing for that game, since the photos are displayed differently.

Before the Lightship database existed, Ingress was the database. So actions had to be performed in that game, and affected both games. When they moved to Lightship as the database, they separated this function. However, some old votes got trapped at the time and are still counting towards Pogo photos. Only we can’t tell which ones. Those old photos usually have a lot of likes from people trying to figure out how a pokestop became a gym. (But trying to manipulate which is a gym now has been called abuse.

As an example, I’ve seen many more like this.

That Wayspot has always been a gym, there has been no need for Go players to try to effect it. Maybe by Ingress players trying to remove it as I know they can get extremely bitter with each over a silly game and some are happy to abuse the map to further that. That’s their problem though.

The last image is the main Go picture.

Do you use ingress? Could you valided the idea of ingress as main game?

[26thDoctor]

Use would be a very loose term. I think I’m at Level 1 or 2 if that’s even the terminology used.

[cyndiepooh]

does the 9 year old photo have the most votes in ingress? it is certainly old enough to have been liked pre lightship so that the votes are trapped.

[cyndiepooh]

if you don’t enjoy destroying your enemy and taking over their territory and vice versa, then you won’t enjoy ingress.

[26thDoctor]

@cyndiepooh

does the 9 year old photo have the most votes in ingress? it is certainly old enough to have been liked pre lightship so that the votes are trapped.

Installs…10 messages?coms?chats? Since December. Everything is red for some reason.

Ingress 6, Go 0

Ingress 7, Go 6

[cyndiepooh]

Nvm found in with a dynamic link. That photo has six votes in Ingress, so one more vote in Pokemon Go on the other should make the photo disc update.

The cover photo in Ingress is the other photo, but adding new likes in Ingress did not make this the main photo for Pogo.

I realize that it is confusing that only the trapped Ingress votes count towards the Pogo photo, not all the Ingress votes. And we have no way to know which votes were trapped.