Suspension ban appeal

General Discussion
1

I recently got suspended for 30 days due to “misplacement of wayspot submission” and “malicious image submission”. I fully accept that I violated image submission policies by uploading a Google image (which I was not aware at the time was against the policy). However, for the other reason, I accept that I may have placed a waystop submission slightly off, but it was completely accidental and just an honest mistake.

I would understand if a violation like this would restrict or ban my wayfarer usage but I respectfully believe that a 30 day suspension from the game as a whole is disproportionate to the actions I have committed.

I would like to request a manual review of my case and a reconsideration of my suspension.

Thanks in advance.

2

Welcome to the forum @PabJam , and sorry it isn’t under better circumstances.

It is good that you’ve acknowledged that you’ve broken the rules and that you take responsibility for that.

When it comes to the third party photo issue, this used to be mentioned quite clearly during the upload process in Pokémon Go. However, submitting through Pokémon Go is no longer a thing as of the start of this month, and there isn’t a similar message during the submission flow on the wayfarer website. That being said, the criteria pages are only a couple of clicks away from the submission page, and the rules around third party images are covered in those pages. I do personally think it should still be listed during the submission process, though.

The punishment ladder has different steps, and you won’t always get handed the lowest punishment for a first offence, depending on what the offence is and how severe it is. I did want to make you aware that even if the misplacement issue is acknowledged as a genuine error, that may not necessarily result in a reduction of your suspension, as we have seen people get suspended for 30 days for using third party images alone.

Third party images are a potential legal issue due to copyright laws, so whilst it may seem like a fairly innocent thing to use a photo you found online, it is one of the things that’s more likely to get you into trouble.

As for the punishment being across wayfarer and Pokémon Go, that is standard, as the ToS apply to all Scopely Explore features. I think some of the logic behind it is that if wayfarer violations only affected wayfarer, people would be more likely to try to abuse the wayfarer system without any fear for their Pokémon Go account. The fact that the punishment affects both things should act as a deterrent for deliberately trying to break the rules.

Each case is obviously looked at individually by the staff, of course, and I’m not staff. I’m just a forum regular who has seen several people post about their suspensions. Staff do read all posts on the forum, and they may initiate a DM with you to discuss this issue further. I just wanted to offer some insight and a friendly welcome, even if what I’m saying won’t necessarily be what you’re hoping to see.

3

Hey @PabJam ,

Please check my DM for the details.

Thanks,