"Additional problems with sponsored-stop raids for EX passes"

#PokemonGO: A lot of trainers are upset about the EX raid testing phase at sponsored-stops only. A large percentage of players around the world have no sponsored stops nearby, and some that do don't find them convenient or have connectivity/GPS drift issues indoors where some of these gyms are (like me), etc.One other unexpected (?) consequence to having Niantic basically train us to hit sponsored stops if we want a Mewtwo anytime soon is that these stops are now heavily frequented by spoofers, making it likely that the EX raid itself will be dominated by spoofers. The EX raids finally opened up in our area this past week. There are two sponsored stops "near" me (actually, a long, traffic-filled annoying drive): one is in a mall, one is just outside it. I had hit a couple raids at the gym outside the mall previously. We had about 12 people there in person, and a noticed a lobby already filled with 11 spoofers. That gym didn't get an EX raid. The one inside the mall did, and everyone I know who had raided there ever got a pass. Sadly, I had decided to avoid the mall traffic and pass up on those raids. However, I did go watch the EX raid when it happened.During the EX raid itself, there were something like 31 people there in person before the raid started. They formed two groups, one with 18 and one with 13 (team-based). Right at 7:00 PM when the raid started, there was a public lobby of 20 already formed -- all apparently spoofers. As the in-person groups were setting up their lobbies, someone checked public and saw another lobby with 18 people who were presumably spoofers. After the two in-person groups finished, four stragglers showed up. They waited anxiously for more people, but then noticed at some point that the lobby had 4 spoofers in it, so they joined for an 8-person group and were able to complete the raid. In all, it seems that the raid was 50/50 with spoofers and people who were there in person.This week (post EX raid), the number of spoofers hitting those two gyms during raids was insane, and judging by the number of people using Entei at the Raikou raids, these spoofers are from all over the world.TL;DR: Hosing EX Raids at sponsored stops only is spoofer heaven because they know which gyms to focus their efforts on, and this practice will seemingly hurt regular trainers' chances of getting those EX invites (presuming the invitation are limited to a fixed number of trainers). via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2xyzTIJ