Ontario Abandoned Places will be rebranded as Ominous Abandoned Places

Levels System & Member Elections

You might have already encountered some level badges around the website. If you intend to become an involved member of this community, user level is something you must know about. Please read on to learn more about location levels and user levels

What are location levels?

Location levels determine access permissions. Generally, locations with higher levels are better preserved or more dangerous. Conversely, well known public locations have lower levels.

How to determine location levels

Location levels are not random. Their levels can change over time. Below is a general guidelines on how levels should be assigned, viz., the location level criteria

Level 1 Historic places, demolished places, cemeteries, low risk ruins.
Level 2 Well known locations, heavy vandalism, relatively low risk to visitors.
Level 3 Some decay, more interesting locations. moderate risk to visitors.
Level 4 Fully intact locations. Sensitive locations.

What are user levels?

Each account has a level assigned. These levels vary from 1 through 4. Guest users and brand new accounts have a level 1. User levels are used to determine access to locations. All locations in the database have a required level to have access. Level 1 locations are publicly accessible but any level above is only available for members who have been promoted to respective levels.

Purpose of user levels

Publicly available locations tend to draw attentions of vandals and arsonists. To preserve these locations, only members with reputation in the community will gain access to higher level locations.

What is my current user level?

Your current level as Guest User is Level 1

How to get considered for promotion

To get considered for level promotion, you must at least fulfill the minimum requirements. Refer to minimum requirements table. When you are ready, request a new user level promotion election. The community will anonymously debate & vote to either approve or deny the request. If denied, the mods will provide feedback on areas of improvement.

Minimum requirements for promotion

Users must meet the following minimum requirements to hold a community wide promotion election. Achieving the following requirements does not entitle one to receive a promotion. The user must receive community wide approval of their promotion. The admin team is continually working to improve and clarify the requirements to set clear expectations of our users.

Level 1 Guest and brand new accounts default to level 1.
Level 2 Contribute meaningful (quality) content to 10+ locations.
Submit at least 3 new locations of any level.
Must not have record of vandalizing
3 months of activity as Level 1
Level 3 Contribute meaningful (quality) content to 40+ locations.
Submit at least 20 new level 2 or higher locations.
Submit quality write ups with history or details and risks when possible.
Must not have record of offense and abuse of irresponsibly sharing locations
6 months of activity as Level 2
Subject to further qualifications
Level 4 Provide a full write-up on why you should be promoted.
Contribute meaningful (quality) content to 80+ locations.
Submit at least 40 new level 2 or higher locations.
Submit at least 20 new level 3 or higher locations.
Having a trusted member explore with you and vouch for you.
12 months of activity as Level 3
Subject to further qualifications

Application fee for promotion election

Our servers are very costly (thanks heroku) and requires ongoing financial support from the community. All promotion elections, starting in 2023, will require an application fee to be authorized on a credit card before an election is held. When your promotion election is approved, the card will be charged. Conversely when your promotion election is denied, the card will not be charged. The application fee amount is subject to change without notice. Please contact a member of the admin team with any questions you have.

Ongoing Elections

No ongoing elections at this time

Past Elections

Requesting for Level 2

indeed1  •  1 month ago

Hi! I've been interesting in urban exploration for about 6-7 years now. Unfortunately I didn't really do much of anything back when I first got interested, but in the past year or so I've been going to a handful of places. Speaking on the requirements, I've only gotten 2 locations so far. I was hoping I would have a lot more but seems as though a lot of places I end up finding and going into are already on here! Not a bad thing, but I will always continue to be on the lookout and contribute what I can. If this is too much of an issue, then I will keep working towards it and re-apply if necessary. Regarding albums and photo contributions, I believe I've done good. I always take shots of interiors when I can get inside, taking both landscape and portrait shots with a nice, mirrorless Canon R10 that I love to put to use. I believe I deliver quality in my shots. I've got albums from locations of all levels: a 4 (interior & exterior), a couple 3's (1x only exterior, 1x few interior shots & an exterior), a handful of 2's (few exterior only, few both interior & exterior), and a few 1's (1 interior only, a couple both interior & exterior). As mentioned, a few of these albums are only exteriors, but this is because one day I went around looking for as many buildings as I could and added what pictures I could get (which were only exteriors at the time, no PoE's found) just in case any of them were new locations. Low and behold, there was a new location! That being said, I believe it can be helpful at times to have some updated exterior shots if there hasn't been an recent album / view of the outside; for other potential explorers on the site, in case there were any major PoE / barricade changes. I have talked to a handful of yous in Discord, and will continue to try and include myself more and more. I've really enjoyed both uploading and seeing other photos of locations on this site and I'm happy to finally be able to contribute and really act on these places and see them for myself. I would love to get elected to level 2, hopefully there are others that agree. That being said, constructive criticism is always welcome too. Thank you and happy exploring!

Requesting for Level 3

DecayDiver  •  1 month ago

I understand my locations are a bit under, I don't quite have 40 albums, but I have submitted almost close to the 20 location requirement. But I feel like the rest of the things I do will make that kind of OK. I provide detailed hazards information on all locations I create, same with history. I do lots of research and even combine information other people have added to make sure locations have lots of info attached. Not only with locations I make - If I come across a location that I am able to edit I will edit it accordingly with accurate and up-to-date high quality detailed information. Some examples are location 17433 and 17152. Both of these locations had very little information attached to their OAP pages, and I took edited them to provide high quality details. I had dug up a very huge chunk of history for location 17152 that was not known by barely anyone else. I never take a "Bad" photo, I use a GoPro Hero 10 Black capable of vibrant photos and extremely high quality (almost 8K.) I keep it on a tri-pod and set a high shutter time to create stunning photos even in the darkest rooms. Level 3 would help me largely in finding new locations. I hear everyone say in their promotions that (x) level would help them find new locations to photograph, but I actually did it with my Level 2. Alongside locations I've created, I've used OAP to find many other locations. I've taken full advantage of my ability by adding new albums on locations that were very outdated. I kind of live in the middle of nowhere, so many of the locations in my area are very old and have incorrect information such as still saying abandoned when It's been demolished. I comment on all of these locations I see to make sure the next person doesn't have to find out the hard way like I did. I have never vandalized anything, I am probably one of the youngest users on this site so I usually explore with my parents/grandparents, who would both kill me if they saw me do such a thing. (of course I wouldn't vandalize if I was alone or not). A lot of places in my area are sealed tight securely which is why I have so many exteriors only. However when an entrance is found I make sure to explore and photograph everything no matter the size of the building, to provide no mystery to the viewer. Location 17152 had only a few albums with interiors and they all barely posted them, I was the first photographer to go in here and show off everything. I'm not only known here on OAP, I also have an Instagram with a whopping 20 followers and a website (decaydiver.ca) I hope to become bigger and more well known like RiddimRyder and NoahNowhere (my inspiration). I'm still a bit under so I understand if I get denied (I wouldn't be surprised). However I feel like the other aspects of my account will kinda make up for it. Have a good day and thanks for reading. TL;DR: Despite not meeting the album count requirement, I contribute detailed hazard and historical information to locations, edit existing entries for accuracy, and ensure high-quality photography. My Level 2 access has enabled me to find and document numerous locations effectively. Living in a rural area, I rectify outdated or incorrect information on abandoned sites. I explore with my family, never engage in vandalism, and thoroughly document locations even when restricted to exteriors. While my Instagram and website are small, I aspire to grow my presence. Though I may fall short on album count, I believe my contributions compensate for it.

Requesting for Level 3

dissatisfaction  •  1 month ago

## Salutations, fellow explorers. I have come here yet again, at last, 9 months after my last promotion. Of course, I am now applying for level 3. Yes, I am aware I do not have 20 locations. It does not meet the ~~required~~ recommended amount. However, I believe that some other aspects of my profile will compensate for that fact. Alright.. so far I have uploaded a total of 18 locations (16 of which are level 2+), and 51 albums. This number would be heavily inflated had I not broken my collarbone last summer which gave me no choice but to suspend my car insurance for the meantime (still suspended but I'm waiting to get a job hopefully in the next few months and I'll go wild exploring again). Now, as usual, Quality > Quantity. I always make sure my photos look good (atleast to me) No blurry, misaligned shots with my thumb in the corner. I try to give the user a great perspective of what there is that site has to offer. I include photos of the POE, exterior, hazards, cool little items and details, etc. I like to arrange my albums in a way where the user is first presented with the exterior shots, and it slowly takes them through the location as I explored it. They usually end off with shots of those small details I mentioned earlier, if possible. My locations are well documented as well. I try my best not to post exteriors. I would be well over 50 locations had I posted them all. I probably mentioned this in my previous election post but I try to make it a nice read for the user. I format the hazards and provide explanations, I try to get a history of the location if possible, I even have a section writing up the most recent POE and which I took as of what date, just to help people out. I also sometimes include a recap of my own personal experience while exploring. Additionally, I'm not only a contributor of locations of albums on OAP. I try to integrate into the community as a whole. I'm active on the discord server, I speak to many of the members, I occasionally comment on albums/locations/photos, etc. Honestly I probably just seem like I'm yapping at this point, but I'm just voicing my thoughts out here. I think that's probably all. Vote honestly and please provide me with constructive criticism if you don't believe I am suited for level 3. If you do bevieve so, then thank you for the support! ## Thanks!

Requesting for Level 4

Autyy  •  2 months ago

I’m autyy, a photography student based out of north york. I joined OAP in May of 2022, and since then (I like to believe) I’ve been one of the most active and interactive people on this site. I believe I should be elected (voted? levelled up? evolved?) to level 4 because of the quality of my content and my activity on this site. Since I joined 20 months ago, I’ve posted 159 albums from 126 different places. 39 of them are my own locations (below the suggested requirements), but I’ve also contributed a substantial amount to locations that I didn’t post. I’ve explored with only a few people from the site, including DAExplores, but I hope to meet more of the community over the next few years. (idk if I need a community member to vouch for me like the requirements say. I think I still owe DA gas money.) Going off the feedback from my previous election, I received this comment: **“my only goal in life is to stand out” well you're certainly accomplishing that. great photos, great description quality, great consistency, etc. you've got a good head on your shoulders, and I find myself looking forward to seeing your take on a location when I see you've uploaded a new gallery. I eagerly await to see what you'll do in the future.** Though a lot can change in 11 months since I earned level 3, I believe that aspect of me hasn’t. While remaining one of the most active people on the site, I routinely contributed unique mediums to my albums. I bring along a 35mm film camera on most of my adventures, which allows for a more creative perspective of locations that not many other users have tried or even considered. I try to include some drone shots, which once again provides some new and unseen angles of some of these places. My favourite new medium that I’ve brought to OAP is self portraits. I’m not the best at them, and I definitely wasn’t the first to post them, but I like to believe that when others see mine it encourages them to at least try something new out on their own. I started this hobby at full speed. My first location, and second album that I took was of location 531. At that time, no one had posted an interior album since almost 6 years earlier. I got in, took some mediocre photos, and got out unharmed and free. Then, after I had some more photography practice, I looked back on my photos and I saw that it didn’t do it justice so I made a return trip. That 121 photo album is one of my most viewed, and my most cherished. I updated the long overdue hazard list and contributed to the history. I am always going be improving, trying new shit, and taking feedback. Another location I’ve contributed to extensively was 15346, where I captured every part of the accessible location in over 200 photos. To that location, I checked every box. I added a description, I got drone photos of its demise, and I got a full roll of Portra 800. Motivation like that is what I lacked this past fall, but as school got easier and I found some creative spirit, that is the kind of motivation that I bring into the new year. I figured now was the best time to apply for the next level, so I can channel that into forgotten places on the next level. This isn't a short term thing to get some adrenaline while skipping class, this is more a disease that I caught on April 15th, 2022 at #531, giving me the desire to explore any and every abandoned place I can get my hands on. Lastly, I was one of the first paid supporters of OAP, signing up for a premium account the day that they released. Without this site, I wouldn’t have met some pretty cool people, or received feedback that has encouraged me to continue exploring and taking pictures. I applied for level 2 within a week of my first 3 months of activity, and applied for level 3 11 months ago. Back then I said I’d shoot more on a tripod, and I ended up following through with that as you could see from my banger self portraits- so from now on I’ll be revisiting old places and checking out some more rooftops. Tldr: I’ve been in the hobby for 20 months, I’ve captured 120ish locations, I’m interactive with the community, I sometimes take decent photos (only sometimes), and you should vote up. If you don't agree that I deserve the next level, include what I can do better.

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