A couple of weeks ago, I nominated a series of newly painted utility boxes. The artist posted about his work on Reddit and Instagram, so I was able to link to those posts confirming the art existed. Imagine my surprise when one was rejected for not existing at that location. (All of the other ones were accepted). I appealed and the appeal was also rejected for not existing in the location. Imagine my righteous indignation after going to so much effort to confirm that the art is really there!
Until I looked again at my nomination, and realized I absolutely had identified the wrong location. When I nominate something, I typically take photos, then go sit down nearby on a bench or in my car to check the photo quality and do the actual submission. When I get home, I upload and add the details. I must have got disoriented when when I submitted, because I put the marker on the wrong end of the street corner. Not far away, but definitely not right on.
Today I received a warning email āwe have confirmed that your recent behavior has violated one or more of our policies. You have violated the following policies: Misplacement of wayspot submissions.ā
I definitely did mess up! But Iām taken aback that one misplacement results in a warning. Iāve gotten over 200 new wayspots accepted over the last few years. Some rejections, but this is the first one rejected for a wrong location, and this is the first time Iāve received a warning for anything. I was planning on resubmitting the utility box art with the right location, but Iām a little gunshy now. Is it normal to get a warning after one violation?
Welcome - and I wish it was under better circumstances. Iām glad youāve had a good success rate and a squeaky clean past. Hopefully that went into consideration.
I canāt speak to that. I know an official warning sounds like a big deal, but seemingly thatās the intent of it? Intentional or not, a mistake was made an Wayfarer staff has let you know it was noted. Depending on the mislocation, staff may have chosen it specifically needed a warning. But keep in mind this isnāt a ban - you were withheld severe sanctions.
I typically nominate this way, too. I think it helps me with location, since Iām taking the time to look at my photos, sometimes the location meta-data, Satellite, street views, support photos, etc, but I have made mistakes during this process. Itās very important to double check the location while reviewing & updating the text before the nomination hits voting. You typically have 24 hours minimum to review and withdraw if necessary.
If this happens in the future, you can contact staff here or through the website Help Chat about having your nomination removed from voting to save the risk of being reported.
I am empathetic to this - itās certainly not fun to have to worry about losing access to your account at the risk of improving your play area. I wish blatant abuse hadnāt gotten to the point where this happens and I wish the Wayfarer team had been more proactive at combating it.
Best of luck going forward. Keep in mind, you donāt have to answer to anyone in here
Only staff can answer that. But anyway you have 1 year redemption period where all previous offence will be gone and you return to clean slate if there is no more warning. So just be careful moving forward for 1 year.
Thanks for the advice and commiseration. Very helpful. (Iām not quite new to the forum, just havenāt posted since the great reset). I never would have been able to have so many successful submissions without the knowledge gained from this board.
Hi @JanetX , Welcome to the Wayfarer Forum Community.
Thank you for taking the time to share the additional information and clarify the details. After a thorough review, weāve decided to revoke the warning strike. We appreciate your understanding and commitment to improving your submissions. Please continue to be mindful of pin placements in future nominations. Weāre happy to let you know that your Wayspot nomination, āReach For The Stars,ā location has been corrected and approved.
Thank you for your continued contributions to the Wayfarer community!
Apart from the pin placement, this is great work. With utility boxes it is useful to show that the work is permanent and authorised, rather than a temporary piece of vandalism. I would definitely recommend that you keep going.. just check the pin
I also received my first ever warning this week, also for misplacement of a Wayspot. When I looked back at my submission and checked the coordinates (from the ānomination receivedā email), it did look to be on the wrong side of the road, so I understand it the warning but was surprised it was classified as āabuseā.
I was surprised when the initial nomination was rejected as I thought my supporting photos showed the location well enough to match it up on street view from the features around it. Street view currently doesnāt show the item itself, a sign for a play area, due to it being quite new as itās on a new build estate).
In a similar way to @JanetX, I sometimes take photos and go away to submit later. Other times, I submit as I go, and for some nominations (particularly those with tree cover), I try and stand as close to the Wayspot as possible when submitting and then go with the location that it automatically applies when submitting.
@TjoeMi I hadnāt realised that there was a 1-year cooling down period. I might stay away from nominating for a while as Iām quite disheartened by this and donāt want to risk a ban following the warning.
I appealed the warning on the web form in the email but got a reply to say it was still a warning and suggested I read the nomination guidelines. I had a read through but still couldnāt work out why my submission wasnāt suitable. I asked for clarification about the reasoning but the response was just that I couldnāt be told any further information, so Iām still not sure where I stand in terms of what I should do to improve moving forwards.
Like I say I was surprised by the warning anyway and so not sure if I should leave it for a while before submitting again. I have been contributing since 2019 and think Iām up to over 100 approved Wayspot nominations, so I donāt want to risk a ban, especially as I really try to improve existing Wayspots as well as submitting new ones, and donāt want to miss out on that in the future.
Donāt read too much in to the āwordā, it is not being used in itās usual sense but that the mis-placed nomination was abuse of the wayfarer rules.
Many people that know about the S2 Cells within Pokemon Go may āmis-placeā the nomination so that it is in an empty cell. Reviewers / Niantic have no way to prove accidental or intentional.
When Reviewing and I find a āmis-placedā I will check whether itās possible that it was an attempt at an empty cell in which I would Report as Abuse. If it remains in the same cell then I will attempt to āsuggest a new locationā
I have even seen where people have mis-placed from an empty cell in to an occupied cell, this is more likely an error so again āsuggest a new locationā.
We also recommend that you do a double check once it is in Wayfarer, as long as it has not got to āin Votingā you can withdraw the nomination.
