Portal ALL the Things! (No not really)

Some of this might sound like I'm being a bit harsh, because I am. I really love this community and I hate to see people in this community upset because other people are careless.  Ingress is our playground to play in and it's up to us to make sure that the portals are high quality and interesting.  +NIA Ops shouldn't have to police this, it should be something we police ourselves.  And have some respect for the agents who put a lot of time and effort into cultivating great portals only to have someone who's being a bit selfish come along and ruin it.

If you haven't read the Ingress Candidate Portal criteria and you submit portals then I recommend you take a look.  But here some things that you shouldn't be submitting.

• Don't submit fake couch portals.  I know we all want one but really unless you live in a historic neighborhood or you live near fountain or sculpture then anything you come up with is probably not a very good idea.  Unless of course it's something like the pictures below.  If you're willing to paint your house in polka dots or get permission to cover a tree accessible to the public in clocks in order to have a couch portal then go for it!

• Don't submit building from multiple angels.   I've seen several instances of multiple portals for the same church pointed at different sides of the building.  That's just lazy. I know you want more portals but the more junk that clutters up the works the longer it takes for valid portals.   

Butthurt is not a reason to mark a portal for removal

This seems fairly straightforward but I also hear numerous complaints about it.  Just because the other side owns a portal constantly or has a portal in a somewhat restricted location does not necessarily mean it should be removed.  If it is a junk portal then by all means submit it for removal but if there is a chance a brand new player would accidentally submit it then I wouldn't do it.

• DO ask yourself before adding or rejecting a portal "If I were a brand new agent would I submit this as a portal?"

You really should at least take a look at  Ingress Candidate Portal criteria.  If you're not sure if a portal is valid then check out the Unofficial Ingress Portal Submissions community.  If you're still not sure you can take a picture of the potential portal then post it to the UIPS community and then submit the portal later. Just don't forget to include the potential name of the portal so you don't forget it later on (I'm always doing that).

If you have questions about the portal submission process you can ask in UIPS and one of the agents who's submitted 100s some probably thousands of portals can help you out.  

Remember Wheaton's Law