Niantic can I please reset my home location?
I just can't do it any more, I can't handle another incorrect Colorado submission. During the early days of OPR having the home and bonus locations somewhere different made a nice change of pace, but in the last 12 months Colorado submissions have declined to a horrible state but there is no way for me to stop seeing them and see my local Australian area!! They would be 80%+ of the queue now!!
I've written to support several times to see if they could reset it, as it's only a database entry after all, and they claim there is no way for them to reset your home location after you've set it, which really makes no sense at all in 2019.
Please can you save me from Greeley's cemetery subs, Denver breweries and Starbucks, shopping centre portal subs in fields with no street view, and that one guy in Loveland that fake portals his house monthly???
PS: Special mention to the player at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, who would submit a keyboard if they could find one.
Comments
Not sure it would spare you anyway. It's a growing pain till PoGo abusers get themselves banned.
If you are one of the people down voting playgrounds, churches, and statues out here, even if you aren't, I'd say just stop doing OPR for a while. You are clearly burned out. There is plenty of coal coming from my bonus location, so it is definitely not limited to a specific area. I have take extended OPR breaks to get over the disgust for some of the submissions, and those definitely aren't in Colorado. This isn't a new phenomena. though. As for breweries and "Starbucks", local brewed beer is a way of life out here (2nd highest density of micro-breweries in the US), as are independent neighborhood coffee shops, delis, and bakeries. Almost all are unique, most are walking and biking destinations and are literally the definition of hyper-local hangout spots. And the UC campus? It is multiple hospitals, a university, and a former military base with an extensive walking path system. There are valid portals literally every 20 feet, if anything, it is woefully under submitted. Greeley? I think technically it is rural. It has a very active player base, they are pumping it while they have the chance because of the rural weighting. If anything, that rural weighting is something that needs to be revisited.
No I'm happy doing Wayfarer I'd just like to do it somewhere different, and not have the queue swamped by overseas submissions. 30-40% is fine, not 90%. I did 65 last night, not one from Australia.
Greetings.
I was very hurt by your comments and it took me a while to find the right words to say to you. I have insight on your situation but I’ll get to that later.
I’m the player you despise so much at the UC Health Campus in Aurora. Before you continue to berate me, all of my submissions were well researched for historical/artistic significance, and now I suspect that it is you we have to blame for many important POIs taking SEVERAL attempts to get approved. This campus has a lot of history here… Niantic has two goals with their games. 1 – get players off their couches and engaged actively with the real world. 2- get players to appreciate the world around them. Have you even been to this campus? There is a LOT of history here to see. Our campus has our very own large player group for AR games and you spend even 10 minutes with these people and you’ll learn what a special campus this is to us. And we aren’t just grad students, these are faculty, providers, engineers, researchers, and a plethora of others who make this campus tick in their own special way. I’ll share a couple of many stories with you – I visited the infusion center on campus to take a couple of pictures of a portal that had already been established long before I got here, and a nurse allowed me to walk through the clinic to get on the patio for patients, visitors, and staff. He showed me around the different memorial plaques and told me that everyone plays while they are sitting in their chairs to take their minds off things. He pointed me to one plaque in particular that said “Bite Me Cancer”, that was dedicated in memory of a well-loved patient. He asked if I could put that in the game, because it would mean a lot to the people there. It’s been rejected 3 times now, which has been heartbreaking. There are also pokestops around the inpatient units where patients sometimes can’t fall asleep because they are worried about their health and recovery. Those are almost always lit up between the hours of 10pm and 2am, by the same players for days at a time. Unfortunately, this entire campus was left neglected for years until I moved here and took the initiative to make it look like other, similar, campuses. Other players have submitted POIs from this campus, but they were not great quality ones. One player submitted a sewer marker calling it a “peace pole” after she complained that there weren’t enough portals for the field test on campus last September. All they really needed to do was just open OPR once they got to campus and they would have seen at least 40-50 candidates that were well researched and significant. That same player, also managed to get a portal approved that others had disagreed on because the language that she used was culturally insensitive and demoralizing for what it actually stands for. She didn’t even bother to look at the signs on the buildings or open a browser to see what it was all about, or even look on the ground for the dedication stone that sits atop soil mixed from the four corners of Colorado. I have submitted several sets of edits for it and my hope is that these edits will get pushed through soon. Another portal that had a plaque in front of it with the statue’s name and artist was also blatantly ignored by another agent who just decided to name it whatever they felt like. Said portal was a series of statues that are featured at other sites across the US and carry significance. This just got fixed last week after months of trying to push so many edits. But I guess I will thank you for proving that 99% of all members of ROC treat me as less than human before they even get to know me.
My goal in Ingress as well as Pokemon Go (I am not ashamed) was simply to make my communities better and easier for people to play these games, and to appreciate what is around them. I have lived in areas where there should have been POIs in the game, but for whatever reason, they were neglected. Maybe agents never visited, maybe no one nearby was a high enough level to get them approved, or maybe agents just didn’t think the area was worth putting in the games. I worked really hard to get to the level I am at today so I could better help my player communities, and have overcome quite a bit of bullying along the way. The games did a lot for me when I was going through some of the worst times in my life, and I had hoped that my work to improve the communities I play in would do the same for others. I know at least here it has made a difference to everyone. If you don’t come here, you will never understand. And I suspect you are rejecting everything that I submit just because it is in this area. I implore you to get on a plane and pay us a visit sometime, and see if your mind changes.
Do us all a favor. You know how to read, right? Push the skip button if there’s a portal you don’t want to review instead of giving it a bad rating. I know I am not the only agent in the situation here in Colorado who has had to experience portals needing to be resubmitted that were perfectly valid, met all the POI criterion, but would get mysteriously rejected because of faction bias. You sir, are part of the problem, and admitting it is the first step. Or just don’t touch wayfarer for a while and let unbiased reviewers actually review things honestly.
And as for your situation? Because I technically call two different cities my home, when I got to level 12, I asked some questions to Helpshift. I was told you are allowed to change your home region twice, ever (the second time, you have to contact them then). I haven’t set mine, so that wherever I go the reviews will populate from my current position. I’ll set one eventually once I know where I’m going to settle, but for now this works for me. I suggest you work with helpshift to get your second choice in.
Thanks for War and Peace there ****. I've had my location in Colorado for over 18 mths now, and have been watching your campus slowly fill. What prompted the comment was 6 subs in a row, all looking vaguely like the same sculpture but in too much shade to say for certain.
I don't have a problem with the quality of your group's subs, they all look valid, but they're hard as hell to validate cause Americans for some reason have an aversion to making photospheres!? Hit up the street view app or better yet buy a 360 camera, photosphering subs improves your approval rating by more than 20%. I sub in lots of remote Australian areas and none of mine would get through without spheres as we don't have up to date street view.
Colorado in particular has the problem of lots of new urban developments that when viewed on satellite view, are fields or patches of dirt, with no street view at all to back them up. I generally give you guys the benefit of the doubt, in fact I'm very lenient when it comes to reviewing (in particular hidden gems), but yeah, make it easier for reviewers to see it's actually there!
Another point to note is that I only discovered after some time was that you guys have two google satellite views, the default view is an isometric format that's very out of date, but selecting the 4 squares in the top right corner shows a different version that's more current. Many reviewers probably don't know that and hence why spheres would help as they override the satellite view.
"War and Peace"? Your team started this a year ago. If they all looked the same, several players were trying to get a bronze carousel horse on campus approved. 2 of them came from me (the second after a rejection). Another came from said other agent who did not think that a sculpture series installation that was already a portal was good enough, and insisted on submitting every sculpture in that installation. This has happened with 2 series on our campus, and if she would have reached out to me I would have gladly shown her around the several other candidates that have been rejected for no reason other than faction bias. But again, your team thinks everyone needs to play the game on their terms only here.
I try hard to write a lot in the descriptions about the POI, Also, I make very good use of the supplement photo. I post links to news articles in the supplemental information to provide the reviewer with proof that said POI does exist, and it never seems to be enough. As for photospheres and 360 degree cameras, sometimes I feel like that is too much effort for a nomination and requires more than two apps to get things submitted (ingress and a browser). What more do you want? If you don't want to review something or trust that it's there, just skip and leave it for someone who wants to review it honestly.
@DarkSonatine
The "war and peace" reference is because you wrote a lot. War and Peace is a very (very, very) long book by Tolstoy.
TL;DR for others
"
Greetings.
I am the person being referred to
I submit stuff that's valid and there are lots of people here that use/enjoy it in multiple niantic game titles
Use the skip button if you dont like submissions(faction bias?)
Try helpshift to maybe get a response about changing home location
"
I'm sorry if you feel it's too much effort to make your submissions acceptable, but we're not making a choice when we're reviewing, we're following Niantic's rules which say we need to be able to find the thing you're submitting. If we can't find it, we record the fact that we can't find it, and it gets rejected.
If you have the required level I highly recommend doing some Wayfarer reviewing. You'll see how the process works, and you'll see what you're doing wrong and have a better idea of how to fix it. You'll probably get annoyed at other players for their bad submissions too, which will help you understand our position.
Don’t forget the part where they declare that they’re not ashamed of being a PoGO player, as if they’re persecuted for it.
I just want to point out here you took a comment about your post length so out of context that you then related it to faction bias when nobody else has even mentioned what faction you or they were, or faction whatsoever. How do you even know the OP is not your faction, it was never stated. The irony of you sourcing faction bias with everything shows that you're biased by it more then anybody else here.
Secondly to the skip comment, to start, you have a limited numbers of skips. In addition to this, even if everyone skipped every sub that wasnt placed correctly or wasnt viewable nothing would get done. Those are specific voting categories/criteria for a reason.
I think most of that long comment boils down to you maybe taking things a little too personally. I've been frustrated by this process myself and have to take a step back and do something else for a bit. I highly recommend you do the same.
In regards to the hospital, the former Candidate Action Guide told us to reject anything on or inside the building, criteria meeting candidates in places like a Hospital garden were ok. And a dedication plaque of a non notable patient wouldn't meet guidelines as sad as their situation is. While I don't know the specifics of your submissions, it sounds like many are getting rejected for those reasons.
Nope. This is stuff out in gardens, common areas such as waiting rooms, conference hallways etc. But there are a lot of POIs in the research and education areas of campus that have required several submissions. The state has a public art program and so there are lots of statues, hanging art, and permanent collections around, that are all publicly viewable during business hours and visible from the outside. And it isn't that hard to guess that the OP is res (which I later verified). And I've been level 12 since January. I don't need to be told that I'm not following guidelines.
And too personally? I am sparing you from many other details (you honestly don't know what I've had to endure). I get told by other RES here that agents here are genuinely friendly but when I see a post like this, it makes them no different than the others who don't know me at all.
Look m*the your descriptions are great, but a critical part of the process is to verify if your submission is actually safe to access. Writing interesting and unique descriptions doesn't help reviewers determine if people can and more importantly, should access the portal's location.
Go view the hospital on Google satellite view. Pretend you don't work there.
Pull up an old denied submission.
Remember submissions can be viewed by many people all over the world.
Can a reviewer tell that your sub is in the right location just from the information you've supplied?
I'd like to point out the fact that you seeking out what faction the OP is makes you seem more faction biased then they are. They didn't identify you or your faction, you did, they criticized your submissions through a non identifying platform.
And regardless of faction, they seem to be in Australia, to jump to conclusions that someone from the other side of the globe is plotting against you is absolutely ridiculous.
Waiting rooms and conference Halls are still in the hospital....
Again, nobody needs your personal story. I'm sure you've had a tough time but the system doesnt revolve around your personal journey. It is a simple matter of does your submissions meet criteria or can reviewers verify the locations you're posting. This one agent isn't the only person rejecting your submissions and isn't on some kind of vendetta against you. You need to take yourself out of the situation. I'm glad the game led you to a welcoming and supportive space. That doesn't necessarily mean it should be in game.
So in order to abuse the system, you chose a fake Hometown Location (not home location). And now you don't like what you're getting.
Damn son, you deserve everything you're getting.
"Hometown Location is a place of your choice that influences which Wayspot nominations and edits are assigned to you. This could be a place where you grew up, went to school, or any location with which you’re familiar. Once set, this cannot be changed!"
Yep, and the OP clearly has never been to Denver.
Your team started this a year ago.
There are no teams in Wayfarer, only Wayspots :-p
OPR already gives you portals from your home location, the whole section should be renamed bonus locations #1 and 2 and you can reset both yearly.
I've watched lots of South Park.
I'm actually thinking about a trip there in 2021, use up some long service and take a road trip from West to East.
Are you sure you want to go there? It doesn't sound like you'd be welcomed.
They're got too much Tegridy.
Greeley is a small rural town of what? A mere 90k? Lol!
Again, you're calling it home location. Why not call it blob of doom, since you don't want to use the actual name.
Hometown location is a nod to your history. For example, I grew up in Brisbane, and moved to LA (via Vegas). My bonus area is in Montreal.
I will never need to move my Hometown location of Brisbane, because I won't be growing up anywhere else. Your home is not your Hometown, if you've moved since you became an adult. That's why it never changes.
Yes Keep Reviewing Brisbane.
Thanks for your service.
Ninthnomad, bummer.
DarkSonatine, keep submitting as you see fit.
Everyone, Photospheres are helpful.
Reminder to all: folks make mistakes.
Nia.... please give us back Ninthnomad he's needed here we have a big country that needs him.