With the '3 strikes' policy, an instant ban without any prior warning would have to mean an agent did something very, very bad. Worse than spoofing, attacking another agent in Com or any of the other things that cause agents to get a warning - after which then get their account back a week or so later.
Having met this particular agent in person many times it seems completely unlikely that he did anything deserving of an instant permanent ban. A mistake in the algorithm that detects TOS violations seems much more likely. Mistakes can happen - just set them right after you find out, @Niantic!
I have seen a lot of legitimate players and legitimate portals removed without anyone ever knowing why. If Azarole has done anything to trigger an anti-cheat-mechanism let him know what he has done wrong. If you are afraid that that will give the cheat-community / red-faction a way to find out what the triggers are, be as vague as possible.
Also reinstate legit portals that have been "mass-reported" by a single faction. The banhammer is not part of the scanner / the portalnetwork and it should not be used as such
Niantic, please have another look at this and similar cases where agents were banned without notice and detailed explanation. Knowing the agent subject of this case I rather expect an error in your algorithms to detect rather than actual foul play.
This issue of unexplained mass permanent bans has led me to cancel my CORE subscription and I won’t consider renewing unless this gets a proper explanation.
The principles of Natural Justice demand an explanation from Niantic for these bans.
#freeazarole
and all the other apparent victims of this overreach
I have cancelled my CORE subscription also until there is some proper response to this. This recent ban wave is different… previous ban waves have not had the torrents of players stepping in to vouch, nor the significant loss of longstanding, well-respected agents.
I had the pleasure of working directly with Thia on a MD lately… it gave me some insight on how much work and manual work goes into the nuts and bolts of this game. It also made me realize that there are severe limitations that the team works with. I really wonder if the Ingress team is actually able to do something about this. It’s been stated before that appeals go to another unknown vortex of a Niantic and the Ingress team doesn’t deal with any of it. However, it’s something when there has only been the most tight lipped of single sentence responses when the Ingress team has always tried to at least acknowledge controversial issues.
Niantic needs to realize that their entire model of using players to generate their content (wayspots, scans) and events (anomalies, MDs) means that they have a greater need to be responsive to concerns. It’s not just them delivering a game and we choose to play it as it. Their reliance on their player base for their development means it’s a two way street. Ingress is also a different community and it amazes me that they are unable to engage in more meaningful ways. Most companies pay tens of thousands to do focus groups, UX testing… the inability to properly engage with and mobilize Vanguards/XM Ambassadors/Wayfarers is baffling. I know it comes down to $ and budget but disenfranchising players is not a strategically smart approach. The lack of consistency in how bans/suspensions/portal removal is handled has driven passionate players away and those players are the ones you should be holding on to.
Yes, i've joined in cutting all my spending on Ingress.
Have very little to add to this, other then even merely from the perspective of decency this squence of events is wrong.
If it happens to somebody like Azarole it can happen to me. Like many others I have a small fortune in both time and money in my ingress account, not in the least in all the stuff (medals, swag kits, cmu) Niantic wants you to buy directly from them these days. And I have. A lot.
The idea that this can just arbitrarily taken away has completely eroded my willingness to keep spending money on Niantic products.
I have canceled C.O.R.E. as well. I never thought I would.
I gave a reason too.
"#freeAzarole. I miss the option for dialogue with Niantic. I hoped contributing with core that the money would contribute to a better customer service, but alas, that appears to be a fools hope. I will enable again when my faith is restored. The community makes this game. "
Because I really believe that dialogue should be an option. The standard e-mails from Niantic (f.e. Wayfarer) have always been a pain, because they seem arbitrary sometimes. In games like Ingress (and Pokemon Go), the players make most of the content. We do the scouting, the recon, the photo's etc. In some way, that makes us volunteers. We all do that for free, we aren't bothered by providing content. We consume the content as well. I feel thats a balance.
But if I pay a bit extra, I really expect a bit extra. I don't just pay for the servers, I also pay for customer service. An option for dialogue is part of that.
You can be banned from Ingress for actions in other Niantic games or Wayfarer. I don't know this guy, but you can be the cleanest Ingress player ever, but if you cheat or misbehave somewhere you're getting nailed across the board.
If I were a community manager I probably would have made a statement. The most obvious thing to say would be: 'Oh we have an algorithm that apparently has gone wild, we're looking into it, but we will unban his account for now because the algorithm was really silly for a moment. Sorry.. Oh and we love to see that a community is so determined to start such an action and take pictures, start a chat with more than a 100 people joining, just to get such a minor issue resolved. This proves that Ingress is more than a game. Wauw, thank you for massively helping us create a better game.'
Such an algorithm looking for suspicious things is a real help, it bans most of the cheating players. Still, it's not perfect. It could be that we accidentally ban a legit player. In that case we rely on the community to correct us and look into the details of how this could have happened. And if we're really short on resources we can fortunately completely rely on this community since they are playing our game actively for almost 10 years.
And since we all want te celebrate this awesome anniversary, we want to do that with a happy community.
All it takes for now, is one of the Niantic employees to click on "reactivate account".
It is probably the easiest way to satisfy a whole bunch of people that are seeking ways to get attention through chats, giving up on core membership, joining in the rage, etc.
Who the *** peep peep runs the marketing department, not claiming this easy win. Come on. One click away from pleasing hundreds of people.
For a player dedicated to your game, traveling all over Europe. Booking hotels, entertaining people, known in the community as a fair and decent player, but still not even deserving a second chance. Even though he doesn't know what he has done wrong at his first chance. Cause nobody bothered to tell him.
Come on NIA, you can do better than this. Give this guy his account back and try to figure out what has gone wrong.
Clearly, you are mistaken on this one, and that's ok. That can happen. Undo your mistake and close this thread, because it's full of people overthinking the next step. And we all want to keep the positive vibe.
Comments
I hereby support the request to undo the false positive ban.
#FreeAzarole
#FreeAzarole
Please check your data for banning Azarole.
#Freeazarole
I fully support this request to reinstate Azarole's account
Go ban cheaters, not legit players. And communicate with your customers. #FreeAzarole
With the '3 strikes' policy, an instant ban without any prior warning would have to mean an agent did something very, very bad. Worse than spoofing, attacking another agent in Com or any of the other things that cause agents to get a warning - after which then get their account back a week or so later.
Having met this particular agent in person many times it seems completely unlikely that he did anything deserving of an instant permanent ban. A mistake in the algorithm that detects TOS violations seems much more likely. Mistakes can happen - just set them right after you find out, @Niantic!
#freeAzarole
I have seen a lot of legitimate players and legitimate portals removed without anyone ever knowing why. If Azarole has done anything to trigger an anti-cheat-mechanism let him know what he has done wrong. If you are afraid that that will give the cheat-community / red-faction a way to find out what the triggers are, be as vague as possible.
Also reinstate legit portals that have been "mass-reported" by a single faction. The banhammer is not part of the scanner / the portalnetwork and it should not be used as such
#freeAzarole
#FreeAzarole
It's so wonderfull to see so many people care this much about Ingress and their players.
But for now.
#freeazarole
[REDACTED]
Agent Azarole playing an honest game of Ingress @ antwerp anomaly
What's the purpose of posting POI of players, to prove that he/she is innocent? Would you please follow the guidelines here.
It's simple, we miss him.
Niantic, please have another look at this and similar cases where agents were banned without notice and detailed explanation. Knowing the agent subject of this case I rather expect an error in your algorithms to detect rather than actual foul play.
#freeazarole
This issue of unexplained mass permanent bans has led me to cancel my CORE subscription and I won’t consider renewing unless this gets a proper explanation.
The principles of Natural Justice demand an explanation from Niantic for these bans.
#freeazarole
and all the other apparent victims of this overreach
Sometimes I wonder if Niantic read Kafka’s “The Trial” and thought it was an instruction manual.
I have cancelled my CORE subscription also until there is some proper response to this. This recent ban wave is different… previous ban waves have not had the torrents of players stepping in to vouch, nor the significant loss of longstanding, well-respected agents.
I had the pleasure of working directly with Thia on a MD lately… it gave me some insight on how much work and manual work goes into the nuts and bolts of this game. It also made me realize that there are severe limitations that the team works with. I really wonder if the Ingress team is actually able to do something about this. It’s been stated before that appeals go to another unknown vortex of a Niantic and the Ingress team doesn’t deal with any of it. However, it’s something when there has only been the most tight lipped of single sentence responses when the Ingress team has always tried to at least acknowledge controversial issues.
Niantic needs to realize that their entire model of using players to generate their content (wayspots, scans) and events (anomalies, MDs) means that they have a greater need to be responsive to concerns. It’s not just them delivering a game and we choose to play it as it. Their reliance on their player base for their development means it’s a two way street. Ingress is also a different community and it amazes me that they are unable to engage in more meaningful ways. Most companies pay tens of thousands to do focus groups, UX testing… the inability to properly engage with and mobilize Vanguards/XM Ambassadors/Wayfarers is baffling. I know it comes down to $ and budget but disenfranchising players is not a strategically smart approach. The lack of consistency in how bans/suspensions/portal removal is handled has driven passionate players away and those players are the ones you should be holding on to.
Because, like it or not, players are more than just their agent name. More than just their virtual presence.
Yes, i've joined in cutting all my spending on Ingress.
Have very little to add to this, other then even merely from the perspective of decency this squence of events is wrong.
If it happens to somebody like Azarole it can happen to me. Like many others I have a small fortune in both time and money in my ingress account, not in the least in all the stuff (medals, swag kits, cmu) Niantic wants you to buy directly from them these days. And I have. A lot.
The idea that this can just arbitrarily taken away has completely eroded my willingness to keep spending money on Niantic products.
I also cancelled my CORE subscription until Niantic looks into the banwave where Azarole and other respected agents are wrongfully banned.
#FreeAzarole
I have canceled C.O.R.E. as well. I never thought I would.
I gave a reason too.
"#freeAzarole. I miss the option for dialogue with Niantic. I hoped contributing with core that the money would contribute to a better customer service, but alas, that appears to be a fools hope. I will enable again when my faith is restored. The community makes this game. "
Because I really believe that dialogue should be an option. The standard e-mails from Niantic (f.e. Wayfarer) have always been a pain, because they seem arbitrary sometimes. In games like Ingress (and Pokemon Go), the players make most of the content. We do the scouting, the recon, the photo's etc. In some way, that makes us volunteers. We all do that for free, we aren't bothered by providing content. We consume the content as well. I feel thats a balance.
But if I pay a bit extra, I really expect a bit extra. I don't just pay for the servers, I also pay for customer service. An option for dialogue is part of that.
#FreeAzarole
It's not a thing whether I like it or not. The Community Guidelines https://community.ingress.com/en/discussion/10/community-guidelines#latest told you NOT to do so.
The forum moderator has removed that image which means it's NOT allowed. You guys just keep clicking disagree. I'll report whatever I see is improper.
You know what. N.v.m.
Lets agree to disagree.
You can be banned from Ingress for actions in other Niantic games or Wayfarer. I don't know this guy, but you can be the cleanest Ingress player ever, but if you cheat or misbehave somewhere you're getting nailed across the board.
You would be notified about being banned from Wayfarer
are you sure ? We can find that in the TOS ?
No, you can't. I personally know players who have been banned in PoGo but can keep on playing Ingress. And vice-versa.
He's partially right. Ingress players could be banned purely because of their wrongdoings in Wayfarer.
Vouching for Azarole, he's a good dude. #FreeAzarole
A lot has been said in this thread.
If I were a community manager I probably would have made a statement. The most obvious thing to say would be: 'Oh we have an algorithm that apparently has gone wild, we're looking into it, but we will unban his account for now because the algorithm was really silly for a moment. Sorry.. Oh and we love to see that a community is so determined to start such an action and take pictures, start a chat with more than a 100 people joining, just to get such a minor issue resolved. This proves that Ingress is more than a game. Wauw, thank you for massively helping us create a better game.'
Such an algorithm looking for suspicious things is a real help, it bans most of the cheating players. Still, it's not perfect. It could be that we accidentally ban a legit player. In that case we rely on the community to correct us and look into the details of how this could have happened. And if we're really short on resources we can fortunately completely rely on this community since they are playing our game actively for almost 10 years.
And since we all want te celebrate this awesome anniversary, we want to do that with a happy community.
All it takes for now, is one of the Niantic employees to click on "reactivate account".
It is probably the easiest way to satisfy a whole bunch of people that are seeking ways to get attention through chats, giving up on core membership, joining in the rage, etc.
Who the *** peep peep runs the marketing department, not claiming this easy win. Come on. One click away from pleasing hundreds of people.
For a player dedicated to your game, traveling all over Europe. Booking hotels, entertaining people, known in the community as a fair and decent player, but still not even deserving a second chance. Even though he doesn't know what he has done wrong at his first chance. Cause nobody bothered to tell him.
Come on NIA, you can do better than this. Give this guy his account back and try to figure out what has gone wrong.
Clearly, you are mistaken on this one, and that's ok. That can happen. Undo your mistake and close this thread, because it's full of people overthinking the next step. And we all want to keep the positive vibe.
Let's move