A Pokémon GO player is complaining that he was banned by Niantic. The reason given was that he had proposed too many PokéStops that did not meet the desired criteria. He is now complaining about this—and about an alleged typo in the ban email.
What exactly was the reason for the ban? On Reddit, the user General_Secura92 explains that he was banned because he proposed PokéStops on the Wayfarer platform that did not meet the criteria there. We spoke with an expert about what makes good submissions, but also absolute no-gos in the Wayfarer system.
In his thread titled “This must be a new low for Niantic,” he shared the support email. It states:
Dear Adventurer,
We have found that you submitted nominations that do not meet our criteria. As a result of this violation, your Wayfarer and Pokémon GO account will be banned for 30 days.
We recommend that you read the Wayspot criteria carefully before submitting further suggestions. Keep in mind that further violations of the rules can lead to a permanent ban of the Wayfarer and your Pokémon GO account.
The Reddit user also accepted the penalty he received on September 21. However, now, about a month later, he can log into Pokémon GO but not into his Wayfarer account. Upon inquiry, support explained that his ban lasts not 30 but 90 days.
There was a typo in the original email, but he cannot really believe that.
“A typo in an email that looks like a copied standard email that they automatically send to everyone?”
What bothers the user so much? General_Secura92 has some doubts about his ban in the Wayfarer system. On one hand, he wonders how such a typo can happen in a standard email.
On the other hand, he is bothered that his account at Pokémon GO was unlocked after 30 days. So it cannot be a simple typo; rather, half of the text in the email would need to be revised to reflect reality.
Apparently, I am banned for 90 days instead of 30 and the original email contained a typo. What absolute nonsense is this? A typo in an email that looks like a copied standard email that they automatically send to anyone who gets banned? I find this very unbelievable.
They also claim that I cannot log into Pokémon GO for 90 days, but I have been able to log in and play since the 21st, so that is also complete nonsense.
He feels that a lot is going downhill with support and generally with Niantic.
By the way, one user commented on the action: “By the way, the ‘Sorry, we made a typo and decided to suspend you for three times as long as stated in the email’ is one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time.”
“I took my suggestions offline and don’t want to jeopardize my account”
What do other users say about this? Under the Reddit post, there are several users wondering why the ban even happened. After all, he just wanted to support Niantic and the game by proposing good PokéStops. There are generally too few stops in many places, so such helpful players are urgently needed.
But stories about bans resulting from the Wayfarer system keep coming up. One user writes:
I have seen several players banned for “bad” submissions, and I took my suggestion offline. I do not want to jeopardize my account because of this.
Another user writes that several of his friends in the Netherlands have been banned due to the Wayfarer program. Allegedly, a new automatic system is to blame for preventing exploitation of the system by bots, but at the same time affecting some innocent players. General_Secura92 also writes with his account in Dutch, which fits the story.
What else is being criticized? The fact that reviews sometimes take weeks or even months for confirmation. Some even claim to have submitted something over a year ago that has still not been rejected or confirmed.
This player had a somewhat different experience who has significantly influenced his surroundings: Trainer has put over 6 years of effort into Pokémon GO and turned his city into a PokéStop paradise – Reveals how it works.
