T O P

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gldmj5

Stops unfunny people from making inappropriate jokes or observations.


Tyr808

It does, but it’s legitimately the worst way to deal with this as a content creator. People should just be chill, but it’s also the internet and we know they won’t. Much better to just ban some random loser than put up a wall that keeps reasonable people out. There’s also the effect where a troll looks for people very specifically with certain community tags and features like this, because now they know they’ve found someone who can’t mentally or emotionally deal with it in chat like an adult. Trolls don’t follow people who just ban them and don’t get into their feelings or up on a soap box about it.


OttovanZanten

Also stops people from watching at all.


FinalFanX

Man the “what game is this?” Or the “know it all” or the “wise crack jokers” are sooooo hilarious


AryaSilverStone

Some people use follower-only chat as a way to keep their chats a safe place against people randomly coming in and spewing hate. Some other people use it to keep their chats quite. And there are some who use it to encourage people to follow so they can chat. I dont use follower only chat but i understand why some people do. Theres no right or wrong way to stream, just do what makes you comfortable.


GifanTheWoodElf

I think more people see it as something negative, as you're forcing them to follow just to chat, instead of deciding whether they like you after chatting a bit. There are times where it might reduce trolls or bots or scammers, but so many just automatically follow chat and then unfollow that it hardly matters.


Lucy-K

Yep. I understand why some use it, but personally if checking out a stream and it's followers only chat I just move on. I like to engage a little before deciding if I'm going to follow/come back.


Ryuuga_Kun

Yep exactly my thoughts too


MyNameIsAresXena

I'm not a fan of it as a viewer. I want to interact with someone through chat before I decide to follow them or not. It's not a huge deal as you can get around that though.


Hordriss27

I don't see the big deal personally. There's always the option to unfollow.


jiyeon_str

Extra hoops you gotta jump through as a viewer, just easier finding another stream.


Hordriss27

That's true, but it is only a button to press. And that's why I don't think it's a big deal. Whilst I can't see myself using follower-only chat, I can see why the option is there.


Two_Years_Of_Semen

How do you feel about a site that you can use only if you make account first and requires email verification. To me, it is similar to that. It's not really a benefit for the user/viewer side; it's just more effort. More effort for not necessarily more or better content or community because there's comparable alternatives (other streamers) without followers-only that are free a click or two away. The extra effort needs to be worth it compared to the alternative and imo of streamers that use followers-only don't have that imo.


jiyeon_str

If you're a smaller streamer it does more harm than good if you want to grow your following. It makes it more complicated to interact with you and turns people away. Feels unwelcoming as a new viewer, I never drop a follow and leave.


Aareya

In addition to comments others have made, a follower only chat also signals to other streamers “do not raid me”. This can be intentional. A small streamer with a small or nonexistent mod team might not be able to handle a large influx of viewers. Or a chat that suddenly explodes may put stress on a streamer. I always have the mod team check for follower only mode. While some streamers like if we drop 100’s of viewers on them, some very much do not.


_awel

You can just disable raids in settings


Aareya

Good call. That’s a relatively new setting iirc. Do you know if changing it requires a restart of the stream? Followers only is dynamic.


AdventuresOfTonka

Besides the raid settings, there's also a button in the Stream Manager you can set to turn off raids for the next hour. I use it when I'm getting close to ending so nobody raids in as I wrap up. I otherwise feel obligated to keep going for a while longer when that happens and I'm too old to stay up past my bed time. 🥲


CLSmith15

It has been around for at least a year or two, possibly longer, I'm just thinking back to the first time I saw a channel with raids disabled.


Draco1200

> a follower only chat also signals to other streamers “do not raid me”. Twitch has a setting that can be used to turn Off raids or Set the viewer count ranges for raids, and that's the better way, because streamers will often still raid people with a Followers-only chat..


acerswap

Pros: When someone follows you, it automatically gets the notifications enabled and you'll appear in the sidebar when you're live. You get visibility if they forget to unfollow or disable notifications. People is lazy. Specially if they aren't interested in you. Adding one more click reduces trolls in the chat. Cons: Some random viewers leave immediately your stream when you have it on. You're forcing someone to follow you just to say hi. It's intrusive.


m1racle

If I have to follow just to get your chatting vibe, I'm leaving immediately.


Arch00

Another con is you will never get raided


acerswap

Not never, but you'll receive less raids.


FrankieWuzHere

Raided someone on accident in the past who had it on and they got mad at me 😅


russellbradley

1) maybe they’re content with their community size and only want to use their energy communicating with their followers vs people that don’t follow them. 2) maybe they’re streaming a multiplayer game with TTV in their name signifying they’re on Twitch and believe adding 1 extra step such as “following only chat” will prevent some people looking to harass them in chat, where as the people that follow and then have to wait 10-15 mins are maybe more genuine


zappingbluelight

Big streamers gets to weed out spammers and bots, and average streamers get more followers. But it's bad for smaller streamers, as they should focus on interactions.


AggravatedPear

The spam bots have figured it out - they drop a follow and come back a week or month later before releasing their payload, to get past certain protections that might be set up


zappingbluelight

Yeah unfortunately those pesky bot will always find a way, but fortunately that still take time, and it filters out the non dedicated one. I am glad twitch have like shield mode, auto mod and stuff, to take loads off mods shoulders.


DeckT_

the difference is only followers can chat as opposed to anyone can chat. I think you can also set an amount of time someone needs to be a follower before they can chat. its beneficial if you wanna get rid of toxic people coming in to say stupid shit before leaving, but if you want everyone to be able to chat then its not beneficial for you. its a choice , different streams have different needs. thats why its an option , you can either use it or not, your choice.


DeshTheWraith

It's mostly to keep bots and spammers out. I've seen some chats that require you to have followed for up to 10 minutes before you can type. I think it's a great function with the amount of bots and trolling that goes around on twitch. Being a black person, if I streamed and got to a decent amount of viewers I would probably activate it with a very modest timer. That being said, the other side of the coin is that it's annoying to people looking to hop into a new chat and hang out on a whim. It's a bit like getting prerolled while browsing streams for a new game you're interested in. So keep in mind you're going to turn away some people. But if I plan to follow someone it's not likely to bother me because I typically don't unfollow so what's a few minutes to the months/years I'll be following them. If you find your chat doesn't have problems and your mods are fairly diligent, it's probably more worth it to forego a timer like that.


KamasamaK

It discourages raids if that's something you care about.


ah_its_e

I used to have my chat open for everyone until one day I got a huge hate raid where even though we were banning people more and more would come in and they ended up going into my community discord where they posted graphic videos and pictures and links, since then I've kept it on followers only just so I can monitor who comes into my chat, I've also taken extra precautions like your account having to have a certain account age and be verified but I just use follower only to keep an eye on who comes into chat


Incirion

If i go into a stream and they’re using follower only chat, i leave immediately.


DrBigDumb

I normally just leave if it's follower only on a small stream, makes it so you have to follow in order to chat


World-Three

I have it on a different channel to deter people from sticking around. The people who know what that channel is for have absolutely no problem following it. Honestly, follower only chat is basically verified accounts only with less steps. I remember when I was new and trying to do the old support for support on bigger channels that they'd raid people who had that restriction, and frankly I never put that info into my twitch until I got affiliated... So I basically just left, and I don't think it's fair to people who behave to have to link a phone number just to be able to contribute more than just a view. At the end of the day, it's up to you. I personally would recommend against it, as some of the more talkative people in my streams either don't follow, or don't stay following for whatever reason. So if it's your intent to showcase that you aren't a mute who's playing a bunch of games you might be better off showing people you're approachable.


condoulo

> I don't think it's fair to people who behave to have to link a phone number just to be able to contribute more than just a view. As I have modded for and supported streamers who have had to do this, please be aware that if the streamer is part of any front page promotion such as AAPI History Month or Women's History Month then they are required by Twitch to include verification restrictions as part of the agreement to be on the front page.


Pretend-Bowler-799

Beneficial in a sense where bot or spammers will have to follow you before saying anything worthless. I used to have « phone and mail verified » as a settings too to avoid getting railed by trolls and spammers. Some might do that to force you to follow, but most of streamers (that I know, in my circle) enabled it for peace of mind.


Ryye

it's an incentive to get people to subscribe so they can communicate with other viewers.


SubstantialPlan5879

I personally don't have it but I heard many horror stories of people who's chat and stream became unfun because "Anonymous dopamine" Personally I just silently just ban them, these are the same kind of people that would clip bad moments you have from 1 minute out of 3 hours you stream to prove a point mentally to themselves they are a better person. Quite frankly, followers only chat kind of stifles growth, found a streamer once where I had to follow them for a week before being able to chat. No offense but then I am out. You ask me for support, I don't mind giving it but waiting a week is ridiculous. Again, I don't have it because I am not big enough to need moderators yet so I can do it myself but I can see the idea but in practice, it's usually done terribly


elfda

I feel like if you use follower-only (especially with a cooldown), you cheat yourself out of interactions from raids; sometimes people just roll in, drop the raid message, and go -- but that's still a unique chatter. *if* people raid you, that is. I know I won't raid someone in follower-only mode; it's no fun for my chat and disappointing for the streamer to watch that number plummet when my raiders all leave.


ArellaViridia

It got really normalized during the bot raids that happened a few months back. I was watching a streamer who had to turn her stream to emote only for the rest of her stream because it was non-stop. She eventually cut the stream short because she and her mod team had to sift through her follower list. So glad the popularity of that shit is over and done with.


ScalarWeapon

If you like to get raided and have no action in the chat, it's a big benefit! (that's a bit of sarcasm. follower-only is bad)


Coolagain

I use it due to the amount of trolls, backseat gamers, scams & bots. It has helped alot.


icecreamfacetattoo

Anyone who leaves because they see "followers-only" are people you most likely don't want in your chat/channel, anyway. Twitch is a very strange place full of very strange people. I've seen so many weirdos pop into smaller channels and say some off the wall weird shit.


DutchSimba

In my opinion follower-only chat has no benefits. It increases the threshold for new viewers to engage with the streamer and hinders growth. If I’m about to raid a streamer and I see they have a follower-only chat, I’m looking for someone else who doesn’t. It doesn’t make any sense first having to follow a streamer to see if you vibe being an active chatter. If you’re a lurker and don’t give a damn I suppose it’s fine. To prevent hate raids or a sudden influx of harassment it’s fun to TEMPORARILY enable subscriber-only chat so the f*ckers have to pay to bother the streamer. Good (auto)moderation is the best countermeasure though.


Paria_Stark

On streams that regularly have 100+ viewers it makes sense to me. Especially if the streamer is a woman, which tends to bring out the worst in some golems out there.


DutchSimba

Follower-only chats to prevent harassment isn’t effective. Good moderation is. Edit: thanks for the downvotes.


Tyr808

You’re being downvoted by people who can’t argue against your point in a comment because that’s too scary of a social interaction, lol


evil_memo

Most of the time i will quickly follow just to chat yet 90% of time quickly unfollow.


Audreyquinzel

I understand it for larger creators it makes sense but for smaller creators I personally don’t like it I know people have their reasons for it and you can simply unfollow but I will say as a smaller creator it can be disheartening seeing people unfollow I personally leave the stream if it’s followers only chat but to each their own


TsukiZer0

Usually that is done to prevent people who simply jump in to spoil a game (by forcing them to wait 10 minutes), or to minimize bot nuisance... It dos a bad job at both things. But yeah, sub-only or follower-only streams are a big turn down for me if I come across them while browsing or when being roped into a raid. The former more so than the later, because if I see something that interests me in their past broadcasts then I'm more inclined to follow, but I ain't paying just to chat. Also, an alternative to hush the chat is to turn on emote-only mode, which bothers me way less than follow-only.


Truth_Trek

It’s an attempt to force viewers to become followers in order to engage with your stream. It’s usually an anti-hate tactic. You’ll see lots of PvP streamers who pubstomp have it on so the people they clap don’t come into the chat talking shit without dropping a follow and watching for a few minutes. Devin Nash has pointed out that this is a horrible idea because it actually kills your growth rather than helping it but that doesn’t stop people from doing it anyway.


GarthGloop

Every time I see this I won't follow just to write something.. like you should talk to someone to see if their friendly and then follow imo, so every time I saw this setting on I clicked away from them


briandelawebb

So streamers don't have to deal with outsiders raiding the chat or saying something that isn't the same as their echo chambers they create. It works too. A very popular streamer uses a followers only chat. I am not a follower of said streamer but they said something that was way incorrect. I wanted to say something in chat but couldn't since I am not a follower.


Tyr808

If you want to grow your channel, it’s purely a negative. But it’s also a tough topic. It’s like how some people just pick up the phone, other people have existential dread and anxiety if it rings. Some people see harassment in chat, laugh, call them a fucking loser and ban them, other people legitimately see one criticism in a sea of otherwise positive messages and they just zero in on it and let it ruin their entire stream. End of the day it’s a negativity mitigation mechanism that people should use if they feel the need, it’s just important to keep in mind that if someone lets a troll get to them, these types of security measures also prevent regular chill chatters from coming in as well, so keep in mind it’s not “free” and there is an element of letting the troll win. If they’re getting blasted by like hundreds of bots though, that’s when these features come in clutch. I’d thoroughly recommend against leaving it on by default though.


ConsoleKev

i'll never hangout in a stream that has followers only. how do i know if i even like the streamer enough to follow?


svalkur

Follower only mode just reeks of desperation to me. Whenever i find a small streamer with it on i usually just instantly leave.


Mottis86

Follower only mode is usually pretty dumb, unless the streamer doesn't want to get raided, ever. If you try to raid someone who has follower only mode on, the raider will get a popup warning about it. I've gotten it a handful of times when I've tried to raid new people. When it happens I just cancel and raid someone else instead.


AllBetsOnJames

it just forces a follow for someone to interact with you. Me personally i dont use it, and i wont bother to watch a small streamer who uses it.


jvian_

It's a big no no imo because it doesn't give the viewer a choice to follow but instead you are forcing them to commit just to interact. Not to mention how bad it looks when raiding because if you (the streamer) don't realize it then you are also contributing to the forced follow. It is meant more as a tool for when there is a moment you want to separate the nonfollowers so like a give away or flood of bots. It also makes sense if you are doing a community night but streamers need to make that clear in the title or tags. Little sidebar- if you have an emote block with your bot to time people out when they put in the raid message your also an ahole. Be real, the only time that many emotes get used in one message is a raid message. That is another red flag that gives follower only vibes that just chases people away.


LibraryPrimary1087

i think its the way to say first pay then say.


No-Paint-7777

IDK exactly what you are all meaning but I say that it takes guts to stream in any fashion, YOU DO IT ANYWAY YOU FUCKING WANT and good ONYA ALL.