It's the first Monday of February 2018 (where I am in the world at least).

Originally shared by Andrew Krug

It's the first Monday of February 2018 (where I am in the world at least). That means it is the first of the new monthly AMAs. Unlike the past weekly AMAs, it may take longer for me to answer your questions because I'm going to try to reach out to the experts if I can't answer a question.

Edit 1: disabled comments
Edit 2: Q&A posted
Edit 3: I'm assuming Q6 relates to suspended players starting new accounts which differs from Q50.

Q1: Josh Stock - Thanks to IQTech for releasing the decoded hash results for EXO5. However, we still do not have the following pieces that allow the player community to confirm that Niantic is fairly scoring anomalies:
13 Magnus Reawakens - Decoded Hash
13 Magnus Reawakens - Individual Portal State results (like those listed at #ViaNoir Per Portal Data for ViaNoir)
EXO5 - Individual Portal State results

Can you provide these items (or get the relevant parties to post them) and ask NiaOps/Gamemaster to include these as a standard part of their process (the way they used to be)? Or, as a poor alternative, if it's not possible to provide those for some reason, can you please provide a clear statement explaining that so that we don't go on expecting it?
A1: The Gamemasters said, decoded hashes for 13MR were made public following the event. For clarity, the data has been re-uploaded here: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/6425d1f4ce6ead036ff7c920c896594c ; https://gist.github.com/anonymous/0e362c53edd04618f07f6db0e20c8538. An examination of the Anomaly Intel documents for 13MAGNUS Reawakens and EXO5 does not include a clause providing for per-portal scoring data.

Q2: Josh Stock - How does one “Ask NIA OPS” in the best manner to get a response?
A2: NIA OPS recommends that the best way to currently contact them is via the Help Center or through a Google+ post where they are tagged. It should be noted that we may not be able to comment on ban appeals or personal account related issues on a public post though. We can answer general questions but the Help Center is the best option.

Q3: A. P. (m3taphor) - Will those who have registered for previous NL events receive a credit towards the teired badge?
A3: No they will not.

Q4: Troy Baird - When is the Wellington missionday and NL badges being pushed?
A4: The goal is to have them pushed by the end of this week.

Q5: Josh Stock - Does the Super Bowl play in Australia? Is it weird watching it on a Monday Morning?
A5: The Super Bowl was on many channels in Australia. It was slightly off putting to be watching it at lunch time on a Monday. We missed the first half because we were driving. But the second half was awesome.

Q6: Sorak Enl - For the agents who were banned, will we expect to see them playing new accounts or should such play be reported?
A6: NIA OPS says that this would fall under multi-accounting which is a violation of the TOS and should be reported.
p.s. assuming you are referring to suspended accounts that is.

Q7: Tizian M. (TizianTitus) - What about giving us the portal ages back to our intel? We are clarify the guardian on our playzone ourselves.
A7: This is currently not something that I’ve heard discussions about.

Q8: Valentin Brückel - Would you agree with the impression that NIA's reaction to recent leaks has been extremely lopsided, hitting ENL players hard for relatively minor infractions while RES agents that were much more deeply involved in questionable actions mostly went unpunished?
Is it correct that 90+ percent of agents implicated in the Drunken Frog leak got temp bans while less than 20% of RIOT users did?
A8: From a statistical standpoint there have been more Enlightened banned based on a third-party report of cheating than Resistance banned from a separate and distinct third-party report of cheating. From a qualitative standpoint, I’m sure Niantic has done the research and imposed bans on those they have found in violation of the the TOS based on the investigations they have concluded to date. NIA OPS doesn’t typically consider faction as an input when considering if a TOS violation has occurred.

Q9: Sorak Enl - What is one fun thing not ingress related that you have done on your trip so far?
A9: If I had to pick on thing, soaking in the hot springs of Taupo, New Zealand was awesome. I was feeling under the weather for a few days leading up to that and it not only feel instantly better but it re-energized me.

Q10: Dries Goddefroy - Is there anything you can tell about the stop for new mission days?
A10: We have put a pause to processing any new Mission Days as we sort out things related to Ingress Prime’s release.

Q11: Maya R (nyxr) - What’s the solution/ETA on portals neither accepted nor rejected and older than 1 month. Many of us are waiting on these since September/October. Also in areas with enough reviewers. (Several onyx reviewers in both factions)
A11: According to NIA OPS, some POIs might require more votes than others and we can't share a timeline on when specific Portals will go live. The general issue surrounding portals “in limbo” is still being worked on. We hope to resolve this in the next several months.

Q12: Tiernan Messmer - You've mentioned about OPR candidates on military grounds in a previous AMA, what about mine sites?
A12: According to NIA OPS, mine sites are treated the same was a military grounds. Only portals on residential single family property should be denied due to property type. Assuming the portal meets all the other submission criteria which includes not obstructing or interfering with the operations of a industrial site as cited in the OPR help article.

Q13: Sérgio Simões (FoghoPhaetyx) - What about sponsoring/hosting a "secret santa" swag exchange with the folks of redditgifts?
A13: Not a bad idea.

Q14: Olaf Niemeyer (ThreeCheeseTall) - What is your opinion on glyph hack overlays to just trace glyphs? Are you thinking they are for or against the spirit of the game?
A14: NIA OPS says that in general, third-party tools are a no-no. Without knowing the specifics of how a particular application works it is hard to give a exact answer about an individual tool, but generally, tools that shortcut the intended challenges of the game are against the rules. There are offline applications and websites that will help train your memory and skill at Glyph hacking.

Q15: James Green (jkg5150) - Is it on Niantic's roadmap (post Prime release I guess) to allow agents to migrate their accounts from one email address / Google account to another?
A15: NIA OPS says that they are aware of the challenges that the current system presents. There are plans in place to eventually expand the login solution. When that will occur and what that will look like has not yet been determined or finalized.

Q16: Flurin Noller (Micky) - Do you honestly think the temp-bans will change anything in the player's behaviour? Especially in long term?
A16: Like all punitive punishments, I think it depends on the person. Some people learn their lesson and some don’t. For others it takes multiple punishments and for different people they learn the lesson by watching others getting punished.

Q17: João Oliveira (Hellbl4zer) - With the new expansion phase(s) of the +November Lima project, any plans on an actual expansion and have several tours (i.e. more than one van) at the same time?
A17: At this time we do not have any plans to have concurrent NL1331 events running.

Q18: Wez Gil (WEZEW) - We are having serious problems with an openly admitted (on comms) multi-accounter, no matter how many times we report him, he gets away with it. Why does NIA let him away with it when it's against ToS?
A18: Can you ping me privately with the Help Center ticket numbers?

Q19: Paul Timmins (noweb4u) - What is your favorite Midwestern food?
A19: Hotdogs with ketchup.

Q20: Tijs Born - In Antwerp during the MD registration we were able to pickup our EXO5 supporter packs. I ordered a very rare pack but I'm missing the EXO5 coin. Any information about these coins?
A20: I was told that the they are being (or will be soon) shipped to Agents.

Q21: Dawson Gilligan - When can we expect a working beta release of Ingress Prime?? Speak up Andrew it's 2018 we deserve to know.
A21: We already have an internal beta. Screenshots of it and a video already exist. We gave a demo in December to the people who at the San Francisco Anomaly.

Q22: Eduardo Candotti - Hello andrew! It is possible to put a countdown on mission pages, like 0/150, so we can know how many we already did and plan ahead?
A22: This has been requested several times and I’ve forwarded it on. Thank you for the input.

Q23: Tim Fitzpatrick (Photofitz) - You said in previous AMAs that you would like a larger focus on First Saturdays this year. Is that still the case and would it mean Niantic taking the administration side in-house, instead of the current Fev Games involvement? As an organiser, while I appreciate their involvement greatly, it's frustrating that First Saturday submissions can't be made until around 10 days before the event and that results sometimes don't appear until weeks later. I'd like to think that would improve if Niantic were more directly involved. What's your view?
A23: I want to make Ingress First Saturdays big events. Not Anomaly big. But where a couple hundred people can come together and enjoy the game in a non-competitive atmosphere with both new and veteran players. My big asks would be for a tiered medal for participation and merchandise kits that we can send to POCs to reward players that come. I still like the fact that the community is involved with organizing them. I’m not sure I would want to take things away from Fev Games, who I think have done a great job. But I think Niantic can provide more logistical support than we previously do and scale them up.

Q24: Mārtiņš Dmitrijevs - WHEN WILL BE F""KING ANOMALIES!?!?
A24: READ THIS F""KING POST: https://plus.google.com/+Ingress/posts/64Dd7fjAbTL

Q25: b4gm4n Jones - What’s your opinion on violent players?
A25: Does anyone think violent behavior is acceptable? If you encounter someone who is being violent to you or another person, please put your personal safety first. Niantic is not the police.

Q26: Dainius Happy - Hello, Andrew, do you have any information about any schedule for 2018 for NL-1331? Planning to catch the new tiered medal. Thanks.
A26: In speaking to Ethan, he recently confirmed Taipei, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. He is also working on a schedule for Europe and other places.

Q27: Sorak Enl - What do you think about a comment field during portal submission that will could contain links to help validate the Submission? I can understand not wanting a link on the portal because that could be construed as advertising, however not all rural areas are covered by street view and if it's something relatively new even if we've done a photosphere on it that may not be visible when we do the submission.
A27: Honestly, I would have to think about that one more. Providing people the ability to insert links could be grossly abused and there may be some liability issues. NIA OPS also says that at this time, adding a photosphere for the location helps for areas that do not have updated Street View. For the historical/hidden gem candidates, adding a description about the significance of the Portal helps (own content please, not from third party sources).

Q28: Denis Moreaux - Do you think (purely speculative as I don't think it would get implemented) that requiring people on OPR to fill all fields even for 1 star portal and requiring final note to be between lowest and highest could stop the "A star all" trend used to artificially increase OPR badge?
A28: I don’t know. I could think of a number of ways to get around it to be honest. I think there are other solutions to mitigate that beyond trying to do so on the front end.

Q29: Tijs Born - I reported a portal in my neighbourhood as a duplicate since there were two portals of one object. +NIA Ops did remove the duplicate, but also the original portal! They deleted both. How could we prevent this from happening next time?
A29: Without knowing the specifics, NIA OPS guesses that this probably happened because the Portal at the correct location did not have pedestrian access or no longer existed at the location. They recommend that you use the G+ Portal Appeals community to post an appeal and they’ll look into it.

Q30: Ryder Sadlovsky - How do I get approved for merchandise sales? I have some design ideas I would like to put on print on demand sites like Redbubble but legally can't without permission.
A30: Currently, the only licenses we provide are for Anomaly related merchandise to our POCs. If that changes we’ll make an announcement.

Q31: Serhiy Skybun - Hi, Andrew! I think that there are a lot of people are interested in questions about how to write abuses for inappropriate game. Is it possible to write abuses in Russian for example, not in English?
A31: NIA OPS says that you can write in using any language and that they can reply in English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese.

Q32: Matias Fuenzalida - Hello Andrew. In relationship a deleted portals. Is it possible if many agent of a particular faction to come together in order to send many requests take down a portal just to hurt the other faction, will that portal be taken down?
A32: I am told that the faction, and how many reports are submitted, do not play in to the decision to remove a portal. We follow up individually and research all requests.

Q33: Matias Fuenzalida - Is there a way to appellate for a particular portal that has been taken down for request of this kind of malicious groups?
Q33: NIA OPS recommends using the G+ Portal Appeals community.

Q34: Mayra Lucía de Fátima Chepe Ballena - Hi Andrew! I'm pretty sure, as you said before, that doing some NL events in South America or Latam is difficult but are there any short-term plans for this part of the world that at this moment can only see a badge nearly impossible to achieve? Is there anything we can do to boost up the chances to get NL Meetups in Latin America? Thank you!
A34: Ethan wants to bring the November Lima experience to Latin America. However, the logistics for that, as mentioned previously, are difficult and are still being discussed internally.

Q35: Crazyeagle21 S - Can niantic make an international database to inform the player base about the reasons a portal is removed from game play? (Ie: unsafe location, Requested by owner, no longer fits OPR standards)
A35: While this would be a good feature. I don’t know if the cost benefit is there. Meaning the cost to make a system to inform a small amount of people about why something was removed is greater than the benefit. There are also privacy concerns as well that come into play when an owner contacts us to request a removal. The last thing we would want is a person being harassed over their request. So as it stands, this is not something we are actively pursuing.

Q36: Jessica Gigante - Are Vanguards working as the Niantic team supposed to? Did you read the letters to NiantiClaus?
A36: The Vanguards have been a great addition to Ingress. They work very hard to provide objective insights on many many topics in addition to participating in various other programs. Their contributions are very much appreciated. I did not read all of the NiantiClaus letters yet. There were a lot.

Q37: Gabriele Vergani - Hi Andrew! In a previous AMA you stated that NIA was working on the faction-bias in OPR. Has something changed since the release of OPR? Is something expected SOON(TM)?
A37: The OPR team says that it is on the development roadmap and they hope to have a solution in the next few months. So yes… soon™.

Q38: Maya R (nyxr) - Can you offer any explanation on the length of reviews of bans that are considered false. (Nia agreed after 3 months ref: #527705 and more) 3 months mean the players give up, the communities are in disarray, and infighting between believers of agent or NIA is rife and bad for communities, and xfaction relationships.
A38: The majority of ban appeals are reviewed within 48 hours. Some appeals are escalated for further review which may take considerably longer. NIA OPS is now caught up on escalated appeals and future escalations should be handled in a timely manner.

Q39: 車車張 - Hi Andrew! I'm wondering if NL1331 the car will be back at US?
A39: Ethan says that yes, at some point it will be back in the U.S.

Q40: Frankie G - Are you and NIA Ops aware of the latest cheating ring perpetrated the the Enlightened in Sydney called #GoldFish?
A40: We are aware of the allegations and NIA OPS is investigating.

Q41: Mayra Lucía de Fátima Chepe Ballena - Should we expect any event for this Valentine's day? <3
A41: You know… I don’t know. At the moment we do not have anything planned.

Q42: Kai-Ivan Walsøe - I was wondering if you know a good substitute for popcorn? I'm getting tired of popcorn and it keeps getting stuck in my teeth!
A42: In the shell roasted and salted pistachios.

Q43: Mario Valenzuela II (Relique) - If you could relive any period in Ingress's history via RPE, which time period would you visit?
A43: Epiphany night. I mean… BOOM! BANG! An A.I. involved in an escape! XM EVERYWHERE! CATS AND DOGS SLEEPING TOGETHER! CRAZY TIMES MAN!


Q44: Aliénor Fragnier - Hi Andrew. Connected cells have been used in the past and were a great way to make the global community work together (European cell supporting an anomaly in the US for example). Is there a plan to multiply those? I would love to see that happening more often (and even several per anomaly site would be great!)
A44: This has been discussed internally. The gamemasters are for any mechanic that can activate and include as many people as possible. While I can’t say that this will definitely be a feature in future Anomalies or events - it is one I think we all want.

Q45: T. True (DJGi) - Red pill or Blue pill?
A45: Didn’t we figure out that in the end it all leads to the same place/conclusions and that is - the truth as we choose to believe it? Mind blown…

Q46: Fadi Husseini - Hi Andrew. what is happening to all thoae roundabouts portals. most roundabouts in my country are small and SAFELY reachable by walking.. yet they are being removed. what is NIA's problem with roundabouts?
A46: NIA OPS says, roundabouts that have pedestrian access (have a stripped crossing lane, sidewalk around the roundabout, etc) are OK. If the player cannot walk up to the object on the roundabout, it will be removed. Note that access from a sidewalk next to the roundabout is not considered safe pedestrian access. To appeal, adding photos showing that the roundabout has pedestrian access would help.

Q47: Arnaud D - When will the application be updated for the iPhone X screen?
A47: At this time I can’t provide an estimate.

Q48: Adam - Little Free Libraries... when reviewing potential portals in OPR, should LFL be approved if they are next to the road or sidewalk within the county/city right-of-way, but the lawn they are on is owned and maintained by a residential home privately owned? These seem to be on county/city property and private property at the same time. It seems the LFL is inviting the public to stop by. What do you say?
A48: According to NIA OPS, If it's on someone's private residential property (right-of-way or not), it does not meet criteria. If it's on a common area that's not associated to any private residence, that should be ok.It's hard for us to know the local nuances of legal access for a global game, so as a general rule, if it's on the 'Do Not Submit' list, do not submit them.

Q49: Vladimir Harkonnen - What do you think about a one time possibility of a faction change without losing AP or achivements? To celebrate the release of Ingress prime
A49: I would need to think about it more. Initially, I am pretty indifferent and have no strong feelings either way.

Q50: Josef Vybíhal - Hi Andrew. When agent receives permanent ban and he creates new account, is that okay in terms of TOS?
A50: NIA OPS says, unless explicitly allowed, if an account has been permanently banned, it is permitted to create a new one as long as you play clean going forward. If your account is later unbanned, please choose one account to play with. You may either delete the second account, or simply stop using it. Actively using multiple accounts could result in all accounts being permanently banned.

Q51: emilythorne Janina - Why is Europe left out a bit? In the USA there is Camp Navarro, almost on every Anomaly two Characters, in Asia there was Olympiad and the Tokyo Mega-Anomaly. So, what can be done to change it?
A51: We are working on holding a Camp Navarro styled event in Europe. I do not know when and where that will be. But the team is actively trying to put something together. When things are confirmed, I am sure there will be an announcement about it.

Q52: Bicho lun - How we can report inaccessible missions (whose portals are inaccessible)? The scanner report of that kind of portals isn't effective.
A52: It is recommended to try reaching out to the Mission Author on COMM and request that they edit the Mission.

Q53: Karolina Bengtsdotter - Can we get a little more details in the email why the portals were rejected?
A53: NIA OPS says, usually they are rejected because they do not meet the criteria. If it's a duplicate or rejected because it's too close to another Portal, the rejection email mentions that. For everything else, check the Ingress Portal Criteria and resubmit with a better title/description/photo if you think it's a valid candidate.

Q54: Ryan Ragoobeer - Hey Andrew! It's been a while! Any word on Niantic working on something for remote areas with players who have no portals, no submitters and no reviewers?
A54: Can you ping me with which areas specifically you are wondering about?

Q55: Kelly “Nidaria” Lynch - How do we address missions that are rejected for copyright infringement, however we have 1. direct permission from the artist or 2. the image is used in accordance with the Fair Use part of copyright law? If the artist is credited, the mission is rejected for containing a name.
A55: NIA OPS recommends that it might help to provide a more detailed description on how the banner image relates to the overall image. In a majority of cases, the Mission may be rejected because the banner image has no connection to the Mission content or waypoints chosen.

Q56: Denis Milanović - Once OPR is extended to review edits, could Niantic please consider reversing its criteria of rejecting non-permanent portals?
A56: NIA OPS says, this is unlikely to change.


Q57: Joanna E (joannaex) - Since the end of last year our reports on spoofers do not result in bans. About 20% of the actual bots are banned despite efforts to re-open reports and bring the matter into attention. I am talking about the new trend of bot accounts that show up already leveled up to 8 without any actions (solely from glyphing) that either destroy entire regions, or cover cities or upgrade specific areas. Is there a reason why we are being ignored and what exactly can we do to remedy the situation? Please don't tell me to keep reporting, as it has been proven pointless. People are quite upset and a few agents have quit the game already.
A57: There have been some steps put in place quite recently to help with this specific issue.

Q58: Marcos Rocha - Good morning Andrew! I would like to remind you of the week of the 5th anniversary of the ingress, where players could temporarily put 4 mod and 2 resonators at level 8 and 7 alone on the same portal, would like to know if there is any chance that NIANTIC will definitively implement this as benefits for agents level 16? this would sound like a motivation to reach this level
A58: Will we definitely implement this? That’s not something we can comment on at this point.

Q59: Fernando Roberto (FeExred) - Do you intend to expand Recon's "Candidate Action Guide" list? Today the guide is small, without many options and this generate a lot of discussion among the agents about what is a valid portal in numerous cases where candidates are not listed there.
A59: NIA OPS recommends posting these suggestion in the OPR G+ Community. They frequently scan through and add things to the list if they find any new candidates being discussed.

Q60: Christine Jeffery - Ketchup or tomato sauce?
A60: Only with my creme brulee.

Q61: Simon Benzaglou (Caldoche) - Hello Andrew, can you please make Ingress available in New Caledonia's playstore ? At the moment it's "not available in your country".
A61: We are researching this. It might be a restriction with the Google Play store as they only allow certain apps in certain countries.

Q62: Lizzie Macneill - Is there anything Niantic can implement to prevent burster stacking e.g. even if you do manage to manipulate your data connection so that you can let 100 bursters off at once, there is a mechanism in the game that only applies the bursters one at a time over the period in which they would have been let off under normal circumstances, i.e. one every few seconds instead of stacking them up? We are aware of players using some method or maybe various methods to manipulate burster stacking to their advantage on a regular basis, which as you can imagine makes recharge rather pointless.
A62: Our team says, like many requested features, this will probably be addressed when the upgrade to Ingress Prime (both client and backend) are complete. Right now our priority is obtaining feature parity between Ingress 1.0 and Ingress Prime so it is ready for release.

Q63: Nikita Korolev NikaKor: Earlier you wrote that Niantic want to support more events First Saturday. In what form will this support be carried out, and when does the company plan to start dealing with this issue? Do not need exact terms, say at least an approximate month.
A63: I think I’ve already detailed some of the what in a previous question. The “when” is going to be determined by a few things internally. Mainly, I need to free up some cycles so I can work on this. That should be happening in the next few months and then I’ll be able to revisit Ingress First Saturdays and start executing on a plan.

Q64: Fissionnette -
Patriots or Eagles?
Koalas or Sheep?
One question or three?
A64: Patriots. Koalas. One.


Q65: Felipe Sarabia - Any plans for a limited run of Tycho posters at Niantic's Ingress Shop?
A65: Not at this time.

Q66: nate sneller - There are 2 glyphs I have yet to encounter while glyph hacking: "Chase" and "Creativity". I've asked numerous agents, and none recall seeing these as well. Do they exist in the game?
A66: Creativity, Thought, and Idea are all the same glyph. Chase may not be in the scanner yet but there was mention of it here in connection with Pursue: https://niantic.schlarp.com/investigation:glyphs

Q67: Fernando Roberto (FeExred) - Please, allow to buy more inventory space!
A67: I would love it. I don’t think a feature like this will be available until after the Ingress Prime upgrade is completed. But once it is completed, it should open up the ability to do a lot of new things.

Q68: Alexis RODET - I'd like a post office feature to be able to send some items as gifts to relatives that we don't have much occasion to meet in real because they leave to far away.
A68: Noted and passed along.

Q69: Marines Lopez Soliz - I and other agents think that will be great if destroy mod grants AP, maybe more weird grants more ap
A69: That is not a bad idea. I’ll pass this along too.

Q70: Brent Hollett (Perringaiden) - How many monthly active users does Ingress have these days, and do you expect a wave of new players in Prime?
A70: We can’t answer the question of monthly active users. We are preparing, and anticipating, for a wave of new players for Prime. As such, reconfiguring the onboarding and tutorials is a big priority for us.

Q71: Brent Hollett (Perringaiden) - Any updates on a Trusted Reviewer group to handle portal edit appeals and submission appeals.
A71: Portal edits are coming to OPR so I don’t think a Trusted Reviewer group for edit appeals is needed. No update on submission appeals and I’m not sure it will be a thing at this time.

Q72: George Prout (jeep42) - Do you have any wild speculation re Q2/3/4 anomalies that we could get excited about now and then be let down later?
A72: Sounds like you are a pessimist so any news will be a let down. So let’s just speculate about anything, pick something, and call it a day - mmmkay?

Q73: John TheAussie - What is the stance on traffic Bridges in opr that are unique in architecture, or have history, or are now historical ruins, which have safe pedestrian access?
A73: NIA OPS says, sounds like it would meet criteria if it has some significance and has pedestrian access. If it's not easily apparent, adding a clear description about the significance of the Portal candidate will help other OPR reviewers evaluate it accurately.


Q74: Laly O - Hi Andrew! i was wondering... since there's a new NL 1331 medal, that means that we will have those kind of events in Latinamérica too?
A74: Ethan says that nothing is scheduled at the moment and they are still trying to figure out how to support LatAm.


Q75: John TheAussie - If a fence boundary on the public access side of a residential property (or similar frowned upon properties) has murals, art, unqiue architecture is it an acceptable portal if you are not trespassing, and can physically touch it from the public sidewalk.
A75: NIA OPS says, to keep it simple, if it's on private residential property don't submit it.

Q76: Craig-AusiKifaru -_- - Does a 3 star vote count towards an agreement if rejected or accepted (or perhaps neither)?
A76: Commenting on how things work may skew potential behavior and this is something we do not want to do or encourage. I would rate things based on the training and guidelines and don’t worry about the rest.

Q77: Christine Jones (CrimsonAZ) - Hi Andrew, you previously mentioned in a few AMAs that you were working on a second chance program for banned players. I was wondering if that's ever going to be implemented or was it cancelled? Thanks!
A77: It’s on hold right now. I don’t foresee it being implemented any time soon.

Q78: Marco Carpio - Will there be a schedule for NL events for other countries such as the Philippines? So we will have a chance of unlocking the NL badge.
A78: Nothing is scheduled specifically for the Philippines at this time. But keep an eye on the events page since we’ll list new events there when they are confirmed and this is a location Ethan wants to get to in 2018.

Q79: Leandro Nicolás Borquez Zuloaga - Sometime you said that we should pay attention to what we read in the glyph sequences, but do not you think that some sequences are contradictory? Or is it that some are for the enlightened and others for the resistance?
A79: Glyphs are a primordial language of thought, they bypass 'human level' language. The order is created in the mind of the observer.

Q80: Jana D (Chamyra) - Are there plans to enable other social services but G+ to create an Ingress account for the Ingress Prime release? Like Facebook or Twitter for example?
A80: All that we can say at this time is that we are looking into additional solutions. When, what, how, has not been finalized or determined yet and would be premature to comment on.

Q81: Clark K - Hi +Andrew Krug ​ , to manage players expectations and guide questions for next monthly AMA; would you be so kind as to ask Niantic to rank their top 10 priorities?
A81: That’s not really the point of these AMAs. I wouldn’t want to artificially limit topics or opinions by providing a top 10 list - which is what would inevitably happen.

Q82: Rachel “Spicyheart” Larson - The latest post announced that anomalys up to may 2019 will be compiled by feb 13. I just want to clarify that this information will be released all at once, or will it just be decided on in house and released gradually. Also does this mean released publically on feb 13.
A82: As I understand it, all of the information will be released on February 13th. It might be released in pieces. It might be released as a single source. If it is released in pieces, we’ll need your help to compile it. Regardless, stay tuned next week for more information.

Q83: Joel Hahn - The mission criteria page was revised a few months back to remove all mention of mission sets and add a restriction that mission images and descriptions must specifically relate to the portals on that mission.
A83: NIA OPS will review and update the criteria page since it seems this isn’t clear.

Q84: Yukai L (xThunderbolt) - Hi Andrew, thanks for doing this! Now that the community is somewhat appeased that future plans and anomaly dates will be released by 13th Feb, I was wondering if you could then shed some light on the thought process behind the decision making process on anomaly sites, which may help explain the discrepancies on fast announcements (like via noir) and slow ones like 2018. Do local representatives/government bodies get contacted for advice on the feasibility (which is why it is starting to take longer now) ?
A84: I’ve expanded upon this a bit in the past but am willing to do it again. There is a lot that goes into the decision making process for choosing Anomaly cities. Have we ever been to a city in the past? If we have, what was the attendance? If not, what is the estimated attendance? What is the weather like during the proposed dates? How easy is the city to get to? Does the city have the infrastructure to support an event? Are there permits that are required? Are there other events going on at the same time in the city? What is the lead time on submitting permits if they are required? Can we work with the Government? Are there venues available that can hold the estimated attendance? These are just some of the questions that the team works through. There are many many many more. I wish it were as easy as throwing a dart on a map, but alas, there is a lot more to it.

Q85: Aaron Breen (Breenzy) - Are you going to expand the trusted reporter scheme? There are still areas not seemingly covered by them.
A85: Yes.

Q86: Chase Milder - How likely is it that we can get some more mini games in Prime? A que up global domination strategy game or a 1v1 glyph battle would be fun!
A86: Our team says that they have no shortage of ideas. However, they are always looking for what will have the biggest positive impact for players for the time required and prioritizing those.

Q87: Bee Cee - Who is a better driver, you or +Ethan Lepouttre ?
A87: Well… Ethan drove the entire time and didn’t cause, or was involved, with any accidents. So his perfect record compared to my non-existent record would indicate he is the better driver.

Q88: Sean Callinan - Any thoughts on the ability to transfer the authorship of missions to other agents - such as cases where an agent who originally created a mission/banner has retired, moved town or otherwise unable to take stewardship of the missions by fixing any issues (portals being removed/made unavailable), etc?
A88: I’m not aware of any discussions about this topic internally. I could see it opening up a lot of problems though.

Q89: Posh Chang - What new kind of globe event will happen in Mar? Can you give us some hint?
A89: Ok. Ok. Ok. At the risk of getting fired… [CONNECTION LOST] ... [CONNECT ESTABLISHED] So yeah. That sounds like fun huh?

Q90: Jay Maynard - What would you think of making the Ingress client work properly in landscape mode?
A90: I honestly haven’t thought of it. Seems a bit unnatural given how natural it is to hold a phone in portrait mode. People already complain about playing Ingress on big screens and not being able to reach the buttons.

Q91: Chris Unverfehrt (EvilSuperHeros) - Andrew, when can we honestly start to see movement on portals stuck in "limbo" that have recently be submitted?
A91: As mentioned in an answer to a similar question on the same topic - this should be happening in the next few months.

Q92: Owen Rochester - Are views expressed in the answers to these questions official niantic policy or purely the opinion of the author?
A92: Depends on the question.

Q93: Jesse Harris - If we think we've found reproducible bugs in the scanner, how should we report them?
A93: NIA OPS suggests using the Help Center.

Q94: Kirby “Wo1fi3” Ross - Have you rid yourself of that glitter from Brisbane yet?
A94: After the 300th shower, I am happy to say that I am glitter free. I think.

Q95: Kosh TheRipper (KoshTheRipper) - Andrew, do you accept dogecoin donations? Will the Ingress shop accept dogecoin in the future?
A95: Ethereum is the only type I except. The Ingress shop? Let’s get internationally shipping down first.

Q96: Cade Roux - "NIA operatives have reviewed your invalid Portal report. There is not sufficient evidence to remove this Portal at this time."

I have provided links to newspaper articles and other comments, but still every one of these responses that I have received indicates that NIA operatives do not have good access to ground truth about portal existence.

What is the best way to provide evidence?
A96: Can you shoot me a link to the appeal submission in the G+ community. While I’m not supposed to help with individual cases as a rule for these AMAs, I can try to flag this for NIA OPS and am willing to make a one time exception because I drank some awesome warm coffee out of a vending machine in Tokyo today, ate an American Dog for breakfast with some fermented soy beans and am in a really good mood.

Q97: Alexey Budarin (MrBinnary) - Andrew, why we must wait Ingress 2.0?
A97: So we can develop it?

Q98: Ethern Su - What about a badge that records the unique cell you have been?
A98: You know… no one has ever suggested this, that I can remember. I kind of like the idea.

Q99: Jonny (Engrish) - Will Prime have updated population counts? In many areas, areas have grown but the MU captured has stayed the same.
A99: Maybe. This is unlikely to happen prior to the Ingress Prime release and upgrade being complete.

Q100: Fernando Roberto (FeExred) - What is your opinion about convents, crematoria, pet cemeteries? Are they considered valid portals to submit?
A100: Depends on the historical/cultural significance. Check the Portal Criteria page for details.

Q101: evil witch - Mexican, Italian or Chinese?
A101: OMG yes!!! NOM NOM NOM

Q102: Paul Sheehan (Irishgeezah) - In Ireland, a small group of people with access to scraped data are using Ingress as a tool to bully an autistic child.How do you feel about Ingress being used to harass vulnerable people and what can you / Niantic do to stop this?
A102: It saddens me that something that brings a great deal of people joy can be used to harass another person. Has this been reported? Can you ping me privately with the ticket numbers?

Q103: Tim Canavan - Did you have a favourite Australian beer that you tried down under.
A103: Hops and IPAs are played out in the US. They are EVERYWHERE. I’m not usually a fruity guy, but there was a raspberry beer at place called Lakehouse Taupo in Taupo New Zealand (I know… not Australia) that they brew themselves which was amazing! Perfect for a hot and sweaty summer day. The fruit didn’t overpower the beer. It hit right at the end with a nice clean crisp finish.

Q104: Matt Graham - With the recent 30 day suspensions that were connected to various violations of the Ingress TOS, the ban hammer bans from 2.5 years ago seems a bit harsh in some cases. Do you think Niantic should consider reversing some of those bans if former agents are properly reformed?
A104: At the time, the person knew what the risks were. I’m generally in favor of a second chance. But, no, not just because the times changed.

Q105: ether bunnies - It looks like niantic handed out mass temp bans to the Drunken Frogs--but I didn't see any of the west coast Brokers Guild members miss a day of playing. How are players supposed to interpret this?
A105: There are multiple ways. I however would not interpret it based on numbers alone and comparing two distinct third-party reports to one another. This isn’t a faction versus faction issue. This is about people breaking the TOS.

Q106: Maxim R - Would you consider Apple stores to be valid portal candidates?
A106: Depends on the historical/cultural significance. Check the Portal Criteria page for details.



Rules:
#1: Don't ask about personal situations. I don't have access to the ticketing system and couldn't comment publicly if I did.
#2: Don't ask if we will implement something. I don't make those decisions. Asking for my opinion on features is ok. If I can confirm something, I will.
#3: Read the previous AMA's. Asking a repeat question is likely to go unanswered and we both will be frustrated.
#4: Abide by Wheaton’s Law. Trolling and abuse of this AMA will likely get your comment(s) deleted and you blocked.

Josh Stock's curated archive of all the past AMA's:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W0FUKoW2oV9g80ZWWQfBJqohAT3PloYeG1K3Rnblizw

GCM AMA G+ Collection of Posts:
https://plus.google.com/collection/4K74JE