Hey everyone,
I’ve been seeing a lot of posts lately (on reddit) about people getting flagged or even banned from Niantic games after submitting location nominations. Some claim it happened just from submitting, and while a few examples clearly broke the rules, others seemed pretty standard.
I try my best to follow the nomination guidelines to a T, double-checking every submission, but it still has me a little anxious.
I’ve had a good number of nominations accepted already, and I really enjoy contributing to the map, but now I’m hesitant to keep submitting. Am I overthinking this? Or has anyone here actually experienced a warning or ban firsthand?
Really hoping this is just a case of people not being upfront about violating the rules, but I’d appreciate any insight or experiences you’re willing to share.
Just be accurate when submitting a wayspot, and you shouldn’t have to worry (and use your own pictures).
And if after an accepted stop, you notice that the wayspot doesn’t become a pokestop, due to another stop being to near (same cell), don’t try to move it in an attempt to have the spot in the game).
Oh wild I didn’t even realize people were trying to move stops or use other people’s pictures. That makes me feel way better haha. I’m definitely not doing that, I just stop when I find cool spots and hope they get into any game.
Just remember, you’ll only see one side of the story on Reddit. There have been a lot of examples of people coming here who claim no wrong-doing. Staff has been attentive and HAS REVERSED some bans but also has provided examples of obvious and intentional abuse.
I got 1month suspension before and i have been sharing my experience so other wont follow
This one because s2 cells. Object are real but cough move slightly to empty cell
As someone who have been submitting from 2014, i would say its save to submit as long you dont try to missplace wayspot submission or other abuse thing. I have no issue in ingress because they dont have this s2 rule.
This example where staff revert their decision. But this one because honest mistake and not attempt to manipulate cells
Don’t know if this has anything to do with this discussion, but it could. This article was recently posted on PoGo Hub about micro GPS drifting and the ToS, so it may be something to keep in mind.
I believe that issue was specifically related to exploiting how PGO loses GPS in order to use a local raid pass instead of a remote raid pass. There’s been no official link of that micro drift issue to Wayfarer yet.
There are two possible cases of people who claim they are not in violation. The first is those who misunderstand or have been misled about the criteria, and the second is due to ignorance. This is not surprising since the person is not aware of it. Common examples are murals and billboards on SFPRP and K-12 perimeter walls. There are still those who think it is ok because it is an open space that can be accessed from the outside, but Niantic clearly refuses to make it a Wayspot. In cases like this, others can find errors if they carefully review the submissions. Only the staff will know this, but perhaps one or two mistaken submissions should not result in a suspension. If the same violation is found in a row or in large numbers, it may be a suspension. Since we are notified of only one instance of a submission causing a suspension, it seems very severe to those of us who cannot see everything. Even if you claim to have been suspended for the addition of just one image, there may actually have been more inappropriate images added in numerous Wayspots.
The other is those who intentionally violate and then make it appear that the suspension is unjustified. Their goal is to unfairly criticize Niantic for the suspension. However, once the fact of the violation becomes known, the criticism is reversed and brought down on themselves. Therefore, they hide the definitive evidence of the violation and make their claims. Of course, this seems unreasonable to those of us who cannot see everything. It is because the suspension is designed to appeal unreasonable. However, if you look at it dispassionately, you will notice that one or more important pieces of information are missing.
I have received warnings myself, so I know how hard it is for those who have received measures. It is important to be mindful of the feelings of those who find the measures unreasonable, but we must always keep in mind that we are only partially informed.
I read that link. I’ll agree with @seaprincesshnb that it isn’t really relevant to Wayfarer other than something some of us are keen about keeping track of.
Intentional misuse of GPS conditions or exploits can be monitored and considered abuse.
Mistakes do happen and unintentional drift/misplaced pins can happen. Doing this repeatedly or drastic enough can still create flags or warnings but have not been associated with bans.
any type of play intended to manipulate your location or regular gameplay could be in violation of the ToS
Thanks for sharing. Seaprincesshnb and I just want to be clear that this exploit has generally not been tied to Wayfarer at this time.
I seem to recall that some of the trainers who were suspended last year were trying to move them to a more accurate position and Wayfarer decided that it was an unnecessary modification.
I think it was just before PoGo Fest Sendai.
That person had posted on social media that Wayfarer staff had explained that to him within PoGo Fest.
Taking this into account, I think Wayfarer should issue strict guidelines on location modification.
It sounds like some of these location edits may be ones that need extra evidence, which we can’t give when submitting in-game. We can add geotagged photos and/or Scaniverse splats when requesting location edits via help chat.
I’ve had location edits I’ve submitted in-game rejected due to there being no Street View, or Street View being out-of-date. For these, I’ll take geotagged photos to prove that the location needs to be edited, and if I do feel that the move is warranted, I will submit either an appeal (if I have one) or a request via help chat and provide the additional evidence.
As for GO Fest events, there are usually temp stops/gyms that are added, so it’s possible that staff doesn’t want any location edits done that may disrupt the map for the in-person events. We’re told ahead of time where the in-person events will be at, so it may be best to wait until after these events to do location edits, even if just moving them by a meter or 2.
We really don’t have much info on what could be causing these warnings/bans, other than what those receiving them are saying, and that’s mainly on Reddit currently. As the OP noted, some of those that were banned did break the rules (most likely game board manipulation to get a stop/gym into an empty L17 S2 cell, I’d presume), while others seemed to just be moving a Wayspot to the correct location. As always, those that get warnings/bans have the option to appeal them and provide staff with more info; they would also receive an email stating what the violation was and, if connected to a Wayspot, which one. If they didn’t receive any emails and believe it may be Wayfarer related, they’re more than welcome to come to the forums and ask for more info and staff may send them a DM.
Right now, these are just reports on Reddit, so not much that can be done here other than discuss. Like noted, if someone does want more info from staff, they’re more than welcome to come here and ask for more info, but it seems not everyone wants to do that, and that’s their choice.
In my opinion, I would like Wayfarer to tell us the distance of wayspots that they think doesn’t need to have their location data edited.
Unless a guideline distance is announced, we have no choice but to rely on our own feelings.
If someone makes a correction to a location that they think is right, but someone else reports it as abuse, thinking that there is no problem with the correction, and Wayfarer official judges it as abuse, the wayfinder who made the correction out of goodwill will be banned.
At that point, people will think of Wayfarer as something to be avoided and leave.
This entire message is factually misleading. We do not punish anyone for trying to correct a location. We take action only if we have evidence suggesting abuse.
Please refrain from spreading misinformation (even if unknowingly). Cases you see on social media are often incorrect information and do not paint the complete picture.
I think this is helpful. It could be also be phrased as “don’t believe all the garbage you read on social media”, but @NianticAaron is being diplomatic.
If you see something on social media and repeat it, here or anywhere else, there’s a strong chance you will be spreading misinformation, even if that isn’t your intention. That’s true for just about everything, not just wayfarer.
There can be more than one location that is the correct location for a wide range of Wayspot. However, the location of a Wayspot is a concession. While the correct location in the east may be convenient for one player, the correct location in the west may be convenient for another player. This may cause an exchange of location edits. Therefore, I believe that it is prohibited to edit the location of a Wayspot that is already in the correct location.There may be a more accurate location, if the correct location has already been specified, it should not be edited. Location editing should only be done to correct a Wayspot in the wrong location.The rejection criteria that might be considered to set forth this are as follows.
Rejection Criteria
3. Abusive location
Locations that are intentionally and strategically placed to provide advantage to a single player or collective group. Or location edits that attempt to move the Wayspot away from the object with which it’s associated (for example, moving the Wayspot to a different city/country or moving it to a more convenient location).
People whining on Reddit are the type to have sunmitted fake AI locations. Every time I look at the comments of a whine, it’s always a clearly bad nomination.
