Hey all, I received a warning today after I submitted a Pokéstop. It was a trailmarker for a hiking route, of which there are many in our area (and some of them are also Pokéstops).
So after submitting it, I later received an e-mail stating that the Pokéstop was accepted after a review and voting. Then the next day I get an e-mail that my account received a warning for violating the policy by uploading a so-called “fake submission”? I submitted only 2 Pokéstops, the first one was an insect hotel which I submitted many years ago and was rejected. Then this week I submitted the second one, the trailmarker, which got accepted and then the next day I get an e-mail with the warning for a fake submission? I have no idea what that is about.
I replied with an appeal, but I reckon I will get an answer. I think it’s very unfair that I received the warning for a Pokéstop and/or trailmarker that is very real and existing. How do they even decide that it’s fake? I can provide a lot more pictures of the Trailmarker if necessary.
I just don’t understand how and why someone decided it was a fake submission and how I can prove that it was NOT a fake submission and remove the warning on my account. Thanks for your advice!
Per our research, this nodal marker doesn’t exist at the submitted location. You can provide a video showing the marker with respect to the surrounding and we will reconsider if required.
Street view seems old. I suggest you to take good surrounding video. Makesure to capture the nomination and all visible building nearby so the video can be tied to that location. You can upload the video somewhere and post the link here.
@TjoeMiImgur: The magic of the Internet here’s the video. Indeed the Google street view image is old in this street. At the end of the video there’s a house which you can also see on Google street view. All the other houses are ones that were built after Google street view passed through the street. Let me know if you need more info or images. I just feel a bit sad that I got an unfair warning for a trailmarker that is not false.
If your research is based on Google street view then I understand why you flagged it as false, since it’s been quite a while since Google passed through this street. A lot of new houses have been built since then and old ones have been taken down. At the beginning of the video you can see the nominated trail marker. Halfway there’s a small unpaved road (which on the old Google maps image was next to an old house, this house has been taken down and they’re constructing a new one). Halfway through the video you can see the unpaved road. And by the end of the video you can see one house which you can also see on Google street view.
Thanks for taking your time and watching into this matter.
These markers belong to the official hiking network in Belgium, this is a a network of hiking trails, yes they use nodes to mark the locations where you have to decide which direction to continue and they uses markers to reach the next node.
But this entire network is an official hiking network. I truly don’t understand that in the official clarification we see that a public footpath in the UK is eligible and at the same time a public hiking network in Belgium is considered ineligible.
Edit: just to clarify I do think public footpaths in the UK are eligible, in my view it is the same concept.
@pokemaster4u2 Thank you for your opinion, this is also how I view it.
That is also why I was unaware that this would be viewed as a node instead of an official Trail marker (because it is more than just a node, the way I see it).
Higher in this thread I posted the official link from the Belgium hiking network (wandelknooppunten), of which this nomination was a part of.
There are many Pokéstops in Belgium like this one, shouldn’t they all be removed as well?
And also, wouldn’t it be nice for the players to have many Pokéstop options and to make hikes and thus discover new locations? With that in mind, I submitted the Pokéstop a couple of days ago. And at first it was accepted, so that is why I was so confused that it got removed a day later. Anyways, I do not want to receive a warning or ban on my account and shall not be submitting Pokéstops again to avoid having to go through this all again.
This is an example of the kind of Pokéstop I meant. Then this is a node as well and should also be removed if I follow what you’re saying? This Pokéstop is no different from my earlier submission.
