I have seen so much talk about neighbourhood signs on the forum, and it seems they are treated pretty favourably in the US. I decided to experiment with submitting one here, which is similar in style to an accepted sign a few roads away.
I am confused by all of the rejection reasons I got. Local reviewers said it was private property and 3rd party picture (it was neither).
Then the appeal reviewer said neighbourhood signs are not eligible. However from staff posts on the forum I know that’s not the case. So what was wrong? And what makes a good neighbourhood sign?
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It appears that Niantic are not going to comment on the eligibility of neighbourhood signs, that many reviewers in the US accept them and most reviewers in the UK reject them.
Appeal reviewers tend to stick with the community decision unless it is clearly wrong. That isn’t the case for signs like this.
But why does the statement from the appeals team say they are not eligible when they are generally accepted? The one down the road is almost identical
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Responses from appeals don’t set a precedent.
Neighbourhood signs are one of those grey areas that have caused a pretty thick divide between longtime Wayfarers. It really depends on who you get to review them, because if they make it onto the map, Niantic has shown they don’t have an appetite to pull them off so long as they don’t violate any rules, like being unsafe or solidly on PRP.
That one you had rejected, honestly, looks fairly generic, so I’m not shocked it got rejected.
That said, if it did get approved, I highly doubt Niantic would have removed it had it been reported.
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It meets no removal criteria. If we want to get technical about them, not meeting acceptance criteria is actually not a reason to not accept things either (we have been told that a thumbs down on social, exercise and explore does not reject)
What I am trying to understand is what makes a good sign vs a bad one? We do not do these in the UK really so the Heron Island one nearby was interesting to me.
Y’all @frealafgb is making a point here. You get that, right?
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Rather than weighing in on yours, I’m going to talk about what I think makes a neighborhood sign great, with examples.
This is an example I spotted in my reviews, back around August. The sign is artistic, and the neighborhood is named for a civil rights figure. This is legit a great place to explore.
This is one of my own nominations. I couldn’t nominate the historical barn, it’s on PRP. But I could use the sign, names for the family who farmed here, to.anchor the areas history as a place to explore.
If a neighborhood sign isn’t up to this caliber, I wouldn’t be likely to nom it myself. There’s another I can’t find right now (at work, can look later) where the sign is on a bit of a pavilion with benches and lighting, which would be a good place to gather and play. But if a neighborhood sign has no legacy, inherent artistic value or other draw when I do some quick research? I got better things to chuck into the queue.
In voting on neighborhood signs, I am not quite so discerning, but I have an expectation that the nominator will give me justification for the spot as a good place to explore, socialize or exercise. The sign does not justify itself inherently, and a lack of effort reads to me as a lack of evidence.
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The point I was making is that is a very loaded question and something that has divided the community. My definition of a “good” neighbourhood sign is likely very different than some of the other Regular’s on this forum.
There’s people out there who don’t care if they are decorative, or unique, or historic. They just vote to approve them all.
There’s people out there who don’t care if they are decorative, or unique, or historic. They just vote to reject them all.
There’s people who are in the middle.
I think you’re absolutely right, if you follow the prompts when voting for them there’s not a whole lot to thumbs down when voting for them when you really go through it properly.
I treat Neighbourhood signs kinda like, if it looks interesting enough to catch my eye than it’s good. Provided it’s not on an island, or on someone’s front lawn.
Part of me wonders what the difference between welcome city signs and neighbourhood signs, but I’ve been told people don’t like it when I ask that…
Welcome to city signs are placed by governments. They encourage you to come visit.
Neighborhood signs are placed by builders to sell properties. They identify the real estate. They invite you to purchase.
Folks have been known to call the cops if you linger too long at a neighborhood sign by their property. That’s how we lost our neighborhood “garden” sign that had been approved in the early days. When the stop began hosting team rocket battles and people would hang out there, the nearby neighbors got concerned.
Fun fact, maybe, the thing that actually coaxed me into taking that test to submit that was in place back then was wanting to submit the rest of the signs, since only one was in game.
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Like others have mentioned, I think that context is crucial when reviewing neighborhood signs. Most of the neighborhood sign nominations I see are for generic, often newly built subdivisions. These signs are usually installed by developers to market the subdivision and give it a recognizable name. In many cases, the subdivision itself doesn’t meet any reasonable threshold for cultural or historical significance.
In the OP’s case, the nomination is framed as eligible because the sign marks a notable walking route. However, the road appears to be private. Even if the sign itself is physically accessible for the public, if the walking route that forms the basis of its eligibility is not publicly accessible, I can understand reviewers marking it as ineligible for that reason.
For me, a strong neighborhood sign nomination is one that corresponds to a neighborhood with genuine cultural or historical significance. These neighborhoods are often older and their significance is usually well-documented online. Here’s an example from one of my previous submissions: a historic plaque marking the entrance to a notable neighborhood:
While this Wayspot is not a traditional “neighborhood sign”, I think that it illustrates the kind of historically notable neighborhood that would make a good candidate for a place‑naming Wayspot. In this case, the entire neighborhood is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (not that National Register status should be required…many historically significant neighborhoods are not listed). There’s also plenty of publicly available information about the neighborhood:
Any of the many places I have discussed neighborhood signs in depth, I have said “unless they do meet criteria in some other way” besides being a big hunk of rock or brick that exists. My reply to @Glawhantojar did not include the exceptions I would make because I was answering his specific question.
I have actually submitted neighborhood signs that I feel do meet criteria on historic or artistic grounds.
My last message was meant to be a general reply to the OP, not specifically directed at you, @cyndiepooh! It looks like I mistakenly hit reply on your post.
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Private roads in the UK are usually referring to traffic only - pedestrians are very much allowed to walk down private roads. It’s usually safer for them as well due to less traffic. Given it would have been UK reviewers, they would have known this, so I would hope it being a private road wouldn’t have been cause for rejection.
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Yeah, its a particularly nice road to walk because its wide and quiet - cars can’t usually get all the way through (they block it off in the middle with some planters and a gate) and the houses and gardens are really pretty. You can walk all the way up to the next village in this little set of roads avoiding any heavy traffic which is much nicer than the main road way, no exhaust fumes etc.
Private road just means that the homeowners have to pay privately to maintain the road, rather than the local council. It doesn’t mean its sfprp. The sign also isn’t in anyone’s garden, its outside of all the boundaries to the house next to it. However I will say that UK reviewers absolutely love that “private property” rejection and use it anywhere they can 
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More and more I think the reason my sign was rejected and the Heron Island one was accepted is because of the word “Road” on it.
I reckon “Heron Island” just sounded more special than “Grosvenor Road” and thats the difference. I mean, the signs are almost identical in style! What else can it be other than an Island sounding more “explorey”?
They really, really do - I’ve lost count of the amount of things rejected as private residence that I’ve had to through on appeal because too many of the UK reviewers don’t actually understand the private property rule. I’ve had better success when I explain in the supplemental information why it shouldn’t be rejected as private property - but we really shouldn’t have to do that!
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I use the term estate signs as that is what I would call them in the U.K.
I would vote to reject the Grosvenor Rd sign. It is not a place to exercise or be social and I wouldn’t point it out to someone, it is not a landmark feature anymore than the metal plate road sign next to it.
One of the mantras of this forum is always judge a submission by criteria not by what might have approved nearby as errors happen. And Heron Island shouldn’t in my opinion have been accepted but mistakes happen. I would happily have voted for the Heron Island boat planters wayspot just metres away.
The removal criteria not being aligned is a point of wayfinder frustration. But we live with that. It is hard as this is around a judgement call, as opposed to something that is fake. Which is why we come back to always assess the submission in front of you against criteria and not be swayed by those already agreed.
I have yet to see evidence that the estate signs in the USA are widely accepted. What I do know is that they crop up in this forum as an area where there are differences in opinion.
To get back to the underlying question and I am staying within the bounds of what I know 
I would judge an estate sign based on its merit. I also do the same for villages or in urban spaces the local centres. I think in the U.K. we have much more of that type.
This is a village sign that is I think an excellent example
It’s individual and artistic. I would set this at the top end of the scale. I have seen the standard metal village sign submitted and that I would reject. So that would be the bottom of the scale. A very basic planter wedged under the metal sign is not going to get a positive response. But to return to Heron Island the pair of boats looks good.
This is my judgement call on things I am familar with. On this forum I have seen some amazing examples from USA and I have seen ones that shouldn’t have been accepted.
My view is that I am comfortable with criteria to judge whether I am looking at something worthy of a positive or negative. I am savvy enough to spot when someone is over egging the description and making out something it is not.
These are judgement calls and why we have wayfinders assessing and why we have differences of opinion. Nothing wrong with differences.
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Hehehe that is one I submitted 
(I did not do the “plaque”) and its definitely a good marker for the area, pretty too! I agree the village signs are usually super good in the UK, we have a couple here that are hand carved from wood to take in local elements and they’re really artistic
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Hi I could be wrong but in your initial description you mention it’s a “quiet private road”. Perhaps resubmit without mentioning that part, just that it’s quiet road, off the beaten path, or something like that. I live in the US and have seen a lot of very similar signs accepted. Those usually just mention the stop is a neighborhood community along a good walking route… Also, is there any fun fact about the neighborhood, when it was developed or what used to be there?
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Yes I had heard that a lot of similar things are accepted in the US and that’s part of why I wanted to try submitting this.
The appeal reviewer told me that these are ineligible, but I think they are accepted widely in the US so I wasn’t sure what made one better than another, especially seeing such a similar one near to me being accepted!!
Its all extremely confusing. Thanks for the tips!
