Hey TWITCH STREAMERS! You NEED to set boundaries in chat!

Setting boundaries with your viewers on Twitch is important. It helps you to maintain a safe and respectful environment for yourself and others. Boundaries can include rules about what is acceptable behavior in the chat, what topics are off-limits, and how you will respond to harassment or abuse. Having clear boundaries can help you avoid difficult situations and make your Twitch experience more enjoyable.

Setting boundaries with your viewers on Twitch involves defining the limits of acceptable behavior in your chat and streams. This can help you maintain a positive and respectful atmosphere for everyone involved. Some common boundaries include rules about hate speech, harassment, spamming, and disruptive behavior. Having clear boundaries also helps you manage expectations and can prevent misunderstandings or conflicts with viewers.

Boundaries can also help you to protect your own mental health and wellbeing. Streaming on Twitch can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience, but it can also be demanding, especially if you're dealing with negative or abusive comments from viewers. By setting boundaries, you can take control of your streaming environment and take care of yourself.

Setting boundaries is an important aspect of being a Twitch streamer, and it can help you create a safe and enjoyable environment for yourself and others.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

You need to feel comfortable in your own space. And if you don't feel comfortable in your own space, it's not going to be good for anyone, and it's going to mentally fatigue you, and you're not going to be able to put your best effort forth. Welcome to Down the Rabbit Hole, a podcast for creators, where we stream live every Wednesday, 8 p.m. on Twitter spaces. Myself and Typhlo Red will be talking with you about setting boundaries as a streamer, which is a very important topic. We as streamers, as content creators, um have the same issues as other people do with people getting much closer to them via for whatever reason than we would like in some cases, and it can create awkward situations, you know, in our chats. But before we get into any more, why don't we say hello to TyFlo? How are you doing tonight?

SPEAKER_00: 0:48

Uh, very productive and also very motivated because this is an important topic that I've been wanting to cover for a while. And while it's not the easiest to speak about, I still think that it's something we should all address at some point in our streaming journey.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04

When we're talking about boundaries, we are saying, you know, well, what kind of things do you want to allow in your live chat to protect yourself, to protect the community? And also, we might even get into how open should you be with your community? Are there things that maybe you shouldn't say? But as we get started, you know, I'll I'll pose this question to you. Why should we set boundaries?

SPEAKER_00: 1:25

I think for both physical and mental health safety purposes for any creator out there, and to also ensure that these boundaries are meant uh to provide benefits for us as creators to continue doing the what we love doing. Because if you let any of your boundaries down, uh to bring someone that isn't exactly like the best fit for yourself um in your creator journey, um, it could potenti I hate to like be so blunt about this, it could potentially hurt uh you, your content in the long run, and it's very difficult to come back uh from something like that.

SPEAKER_01: 2:10

It's it's interesting because you know, being you know a streamer, our job, the way that we get any level of success is by encouraging engagement for our chat. So we want people to talk, we want them to be active. And when you're talking a lot and we're talking two, three, four plus hours a day with you talking and your chat is typing in, it's bound to happen that people are going to say things that are more personal in nature or whatever, and not everybody's having a good day, and sometimes that is what is on their mind. So you need to to consider that. So it's this fine line between encouraging engagement and being engaging yourself, and absolutely figuring out uh what's that limit, and it it isn't always negative things like I'm having a bad day, you know, my dog died, that kind of thing. There's a lot of things that go into boundaries that you need to think about when you're talking about boundaries. So, what what do you consider boundaries, life Lowren?

SPEAKER_00: 3:08

I think that's the thing too, is boundaries are incredibly subjective with every streamer. Um, some streamers may be completely open about their personal lives or um say like where maybe where they work, but then also others tend to be like very incredibly strict and guarded on what specific information they give to their chat, um, and which is incredibly justifiable because I'll even say that there's some creator friends out there where if they were to like reveal part of their lives like that it uh could be physically or mentally detrimental to them as well. So I think withholding personal most personal information is incredibly valid, and whatever information you do give, do so uh at your own discretion. Even if uh you say like what state you're in, I feel like that's something you should be able to withhold uh from yourself to when we're talking about boundaries.

SPEAKER_01: 4:07

You know, obviously all the things that that Brennan is saying, um doxing is a big deal. It is difficult to sometimes like I want to say, oh I work oh, I can't say I I work here. I I don't even want to mention the city or the state in some cases, so you know it's really hard to to do that. And like I said, because you're talking so much, sometimes you have to be very careful about what you say because you don't want to give things away. And sometimes, you know, you don't want to get too personal because you know that just because something is bothering you doesn't mean that everybody needs to hear it. There was uh a case that that happened, um, an example that happened uh a week or so ago. I'm not gonna mention the streamer's name because I don't want to give them any more a spotlight, but they had a problem with something um that someone said in their chat when they asked them how the day was. And um, it turned into a big thing. And you know what the person came out and said afterwards, look, I have a rule in my chat where I don't uh want people to talk about anything, you know, essentially negative, you know, and and the person did, and um that caused a whole big, you know, mess across the streamer Twitter and streamer TikTok, uh, about what is the right level, what kind of boundaries should you have, and there's a lot of people on both sides saying, hey, if you want to have strict boundaries like that, go for it. And other people saying, No, you should acknowledge people and you should allow yourself to open up, allow them to open up to you and and talk about it or tell them tell them you can they can DM you in Discord or whatever. But in my opinion, and and feel free to disagree, but you should do what is right for your channel and your community and that respects your brand. My only thing, and I'm not trying to be a gatekeeper here, like I essentially I was insinuating a moment ago, is you should at least be respectful to people uh when they say something that is more of a personal nature, even if you don't intend on talking about it. There are ways to um shut a situation down without being rude.

SPEAKER_00: 6:05

And to support your claims there, there is another creator who said similar things to yourself. I'm not going to uh mention their name just because they quote unquote caught a lot of flack for this, but in support of uh your especially your point on providing like information and like withholding information too. Um, this specific streamer said uh that certain creators out there set strict boundaries because in past incidents uh they have been more open than you than what they are now, and they've quote unquote been burned or taken advantage of for their kindness, which in turn uh gives something like makes them seem very callous without the added context and backstory of them getting burned or taking advantage of.

SPEAKER_01: 6:57

Before I go on, I just want to remind everybody, you know, I we do appreciate everybody here. Uh, if you could like this and and share it if possible, that would really help out um the show and help us keep doing these. So I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00: 7:07

I had just noticed that um our mutual friend uh Kenny Wolf just dropped uh a comment in here too that I want to bring attention to. Um it all comes down to how you say it. I really like uh how that was put out there. I think that's the thing too, is like tone oftentimes gets lost through text, and then I remember a specific tweet that you made, Morph, um, and there was like a back and forth thing uh from with another creator that I was asking, like, oh, why do we have to be so considerate and like why can't we just be direct? It goes back to what Kenny Wolf said. It all comes down to how you say it because if we're simply just blunt and direct, like I'll even reference like Soar Big E because like I even though I look up to him, I myself cannot be so blunt and direct to my Twitch chat, um, because of how I establish myself as someone who hears people out and tries to essentially be kind of like not so much of like a cheerleader, but kind of like a like a guide more so than like as a like a strict teacher. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 8:11

Um, I on the other hand can be pretty blunt with my my community because that's the way that I established myself. That's respectable. Uh unw unwit unwittingly, but so yeah, it's all in I agree with Kenny Waffle well. It's it's all in how you say it. There are ways to if even if it's a that's a hard no from me, like you really don't want there are ways to put it that just don't have you coming off like a jerk. And and and that would be appreciated by by everybody. Actually, as Devin Dev yeah, Devin Nash put today in a video I watched, he actually, you know, I we talk a lot about negative engagement. He called it outrage marketing. I had never heard that phrase before, but I I believe that's what he was talking about, and it's hilarious. It's hilarious.

SPEAKER_00: 8:49

Um I'm sorry, I cannot keep a straight face with that.

SPEAKER_01: 8:52

I was like that that makes that makes sense. Like I I I get I I think people won't really understand if I say that a lot until maybe I can I can keep saying it to sort of popularize it, but it that is really what it is. But that kind that style isn't going to bring you a lot of um success in the long run. Not from not in the way you want, anyway.

SPEAKER_00: 9:11

And I think that's so that brings me to another question that I have for you and also for everyone that's listening right now. Um when would it be an appropriate time to be vulnerable or maybe not necessarily vulnerable, but when is it okay to open up to your Twitch chat, to your audience, to people who follow you on other platforms about important events in your life, like or even uh coming down to like it's a stream schedule, like saying, Hey, I have to cancel X Day for like in my Twitch stream or like reschedule it because something came up with work or like family issues as well. When would you deem that appropriate? And I guess uh maybe the easy answer to this would be like completely to like that individual's discretion, but in general, like when when do you know it's okay to open up and be vulnerable and to let your boundaries down?

SPEAKER_01: 10:07

I I think that's really gonna be um are really up to the individual choice. And I understand that sometimes people listen to these things like they want the answer. What's the right answer? Unfortunately, like with a lot of things we talk about here in content creation, it's a lot of what works for you and what you are comfortable with and what your community is used to. And it it if some people are super vulnerable or super open about their whole life and everything, and some people just aren't comfortable with that. You know, me as somebody who is quite often more closed off emotionally and uh doesn't like to talk uh much about their personal life at all, even with people IRL, um, I I would tend to not talk about it. If I was having a bad day work, or if I had to take a a day off from streaming because of a work-related issue or family-related issue, I would simply say, I need to take a day off because of whatever, you know. Um when I first started doing this, I had a lot I had much more challenges with anxiety, and I probably took every third or fourth stream off because I was so anxious. Uh, but that's not what I said, you know. Um it was just I wasn't comfortable saying that because I felt I didn't like the way that made me feel to s to say that. I would mask my actual true feelings. Even the other day, um, I think Shell was on for that stream, was a Friday night, and we were just we spent a couple hours just making merch designs. And you know, I started to be a little bit open towards the end and got to the point where I was actually making myself depressed by what I was saying, so I tried to just brush it off and kind of move on with what we were what we were doing. You have to know sometimes, you know, not just what people are saying to you, but what you're saying to them as well, whether it's appropriate.

SPEAKER_00: 11:49

And Bullet Club Gaming had a comment here that I want to bring up uh for tonight. We can't forget that it's technically within Twitch TOS that oversharing, constant uh sharing, and as a viewer speaking on heavier personal events or topics is a banable offense, oftentimes a permaban. And you are 100% right with that, Bullet Club. I think that's the thing too, is it's within our contract um with Twitch um that we keep uh to providing necessary boundaries for our own safety and also for the safety of viewers in our chat.

SPEAKER_01: 12:30

We can as streamers, we can actually actually we can be friends with people, but it's it's up to you because one thing to remember is that while you have five, ten, fifteen people, whatever you have in chat, who are looking at you, you are who are they are focused on. So they start to feel very close to you, they start to feel very comfortable with you.

SPEAKER_00: 12:50

It's a very um thin tight rope to navigate as a streamer. Um, and I know that we've spoken at length about this, where you don't have to be mutually exclusive to being a genuine friend and also being a business, you can achieve both at the same time. And I think that's the thing here too. I I do have something in my notes related to what you said. Oftentimes I myself can feel conflicted with uh doing what's best for myself as a creator, but also making sure that I keep my specific promises for my viewers as well, and uh it could come down to making sure that I still try to be consistent, like on and off stream by providing reasons like hey, uh and here's why I'm not being I'm not able to stream this Wednesday. I'm working on like these videos that I'll release on YouTube on and TikTok later. So I think at least for me, it's like a lot of constant communication for other Twitch streamers. You don't necessarily have to do what I do of like constantly communicating uh to my Twitch viewers. I do that specifically because I'm well aware that my audience is very much spread out across the world. I have people come tuning in from like the UK, from like the East Coast as well, um, a few west coast people, but like that's the thing too, is like I need to be uh very um constantly communicating with my audience um to keep them up to date because uh like spread out across the world and making sure that they are able to like stay in touch with what I what is happening in my life. If it's okay um with you, I wanted to give a little bit of attention to um Shell's uh comment here on deciding to put um your hand in a social wasp ness on several levels throughout the past eight days to try and spread some love, understanding that some reactions are kind and irrespectful, others not so much, and I'll be honest, that's essentially what most platforms are like. Um it's I've it's essentially you get a mixed bag of people as a creator. Sometimes you'll get an influx of negative um reactions and comments, sometimes you'll luck out and uh get the complete opposite. I think it's that ties into um more of valid facts to keep your boundaries up because you you are at we are at risk as creators for um getting burned, getting a lot of um criticism. And while conser uh while I will say constructive criticism at times is acceptable, like hey, like fix the gain or suppressor on your mic, uh nitty-gritty stuff like that to help you improve later down the line, um, as blunt as they may be. But like if it's just negative comments with no direction of improvement, then I don't I will bluntly say like they're not worth your time.

SPEAKER_01: 15:54

You know, the thing that comes to my mind about this is streamers get taken to uh get kind of beaten up for a lot of the things that we say on stream. Because think about it, quite often we don't have the benefit of making a video, we don't have the benefit of typing a tweet that we can write it down, oh no, that's not good, let me reword it because it's too harsh. We have to react instantly, and often we actually react impulsively and we don't get a do-over because everything we do as streamers is live. So, like the instance that I gave with Nadia, or the instance that about the streamer that kind of snapped at his community. Had he had a little had this been a tweet to him or a message of some sort, he could have taken the time to write it out and say, Oh no, that's probably coming off too harsh, or she could have done Nadia could have come up with some other way to to get the point across that what that person was doing was not okay or what they're saying was not okay. But we have everything we do is live, and there's no oh pause, rewind, guys forget that. You know, it's not in like then in court where you say, you know, jury can must disregard those last statements. It doesn't work that way. It's clipped by the time you get done saying it, it's already out there on the internet. Um that makes everything we do that much more more difficult. So a lot of times I put a posted a question out there on Twitter a couple days ago about what do you do when somebody violates, you know, um the boundaries in your own stream. And a lot of people, there was a mix of people saying I ban first, ask questions later, and then there are people like I give them a benefit of the doubt, and then we and then if they continue doing it, then we you know look to block them or ban them or or whatever. And it's it's a it's difficult. So we have that's why we kind of have to set these boundaries, and that's why these boundaries have to be the individual person and what your tolerance, your community tolerance is, and sometimes they do need to be a little bit more harsh if you're trying to enforce them.

SPEAKER_00: 17:50

Right. And that ties into my difficult question that I have for everyone who's listening right now, only if they feel comfortable or you know, can come up with a not necessarily definitive answer, but when do you know when to cut off ties with someone that crosses your boundaries? Would you say that it would be a kind of um def like cut off, you're done, or would you give them multiple chances and fair warnings where it's not necessarily cutting them off, but it uh starts with a slap on the wrist, more restrictions as they continue to viol to uh cross the boundaries and such, um, which is giving them a second chances, but also it's the double-edged sword of you're giving them too many chances. And as for myself, how I handle it, at least my mods tend to be lenient where we try to give chances like, hey, maybe you said something out of pocket, because let's be honest. Um, I'm one of those creators that if you want to like roast me, like go for it. Um, if that's like uh something and I try to be generous uh with that too. Like, hey, I'll give you this second chance, just make sure that you tone it down a little bit. I think maybe it's after like the second or third strike that's when it's okay to permaban that person.

SPEAKER_01: 19:12

It's all about protection, you know. That's the whole thing about boundaries, it's all about protecting people. And you know, there's uh numerous reasons you need to do you need to focus on protection. One is if somebody is going off and saying things in chat, um, you as a streamer are responsible for that ultimately, and you can get in trouble on terms of service if you aren't moderating your chat properly. And beyond that, you know, you could be damaging somebody, you could trigger somebody um to have a worse mental day than maybe they're already having.

SPEAKER_00: 19:43

I think that also ties into compromising. Um, where if someone is cons I'm going to be careful how I use this word, because if someone is borderline trauma dumping or uh typing uh like not so upbeat things in your Twitch chat, um maybe that it's they are truly going through something and they rely on you as a creator to uplift them uh consistently. And especially if you've given yourself that brand of like someone that um is like a guide to uh some to like some kind of thing, but essentially how you could handle it as compromise and say like instead of uh um lashing out and saying that's not allowed, you can say essentially beat around the bush. And I know uh that's maybe not like uh like the most direct way to go about it, but essentially saying, like, hey, I'm sorry you're going through this, let's do let's I'm going to do my best as a creator to make your day a little bit better. Everyone in chat, especially the mods, do their best too. But also let's leave the details of that in d private DMs where I have more time to process through this and come up with a more viable solution rather than in the moment. I won't divulge the name of the creator that I'm citing, um, but essentially they said um in a video that quote unquote, not all streamers want to be your friend, and um I th they did elaborate this uh in later videos and tweets that uh creators are businesses at the end of the day, and that riled a lot of people up. Um, I was also annoyed for a different reason because I essentially called them out and said, Hey, you uh said that I'm good, I'm glad to be like your friend in this industry, and uh and I and I still want to be their friend, that's the thing. It's just that our disagreement on this is a fundamental one, and uh I think we can still disagree with each other on that, but uh also quote unquote still be friends.

SPEAKER_01: 21:54

You know, I I understand the sentiment, you know, but I also I also agree with it to to an extent, you know. Um there was another quote, you know, I see that we have that reference on here, where somebody was saying creators are in it for the money, they don't want to be your friend. And that person drew a very hard line between those two those two concepts. Um that creators are either just in it for the money or they're okay with being a friend. And I think I said at the time, I said a couple times, that those things are not mutually exclusive, that people can be genuinely friendly and helpful and want to be a friend to some people, but also try to make money. I don't think you can fake being nice to people. I don't think you can fake being a f well, actually probably some people probably can, but I I do think it's uh people are smart enough to be perceptive when you're not genuine. But anything you'd like to kind of wrap this up if you wanted to sum up this conversation on boundaries.

SPEAKER_00: 22:50

I think to tie everything together, um, and I really um hope that some of you take this information, this advice, um, these guides to heart, that set up boundaries for yourself. That it does come down to your individual discretion. Like what Cat Catfinated Destiny said, um, like if you want to uh bring up strict boundaries because of past experiences, please, like by all means go with your gut feeling on that. Um, if you want to be lenient or give them chances, quote unquote, do so. Uh however many chances you give is completely up to you. But also know that whatever boundaries you set for yourself, no matter how strict or how lenient they are, they are there for you so you can keep creating in the long run. We don't want you to stop creating content or to stop streaming because some individual or multiple individuals crossed your boundaries and had a negative effect on you. We do want you to have these boundaries because we care about your well-being as a cont as content fellow content creators.

SPEAKER_01: 24:00

Hopefully, uh everyone who hears this understands now that boundaries, you know, have a there's a lot of things that go into it. It could be a boundary for your own mental health, for your your chat's mental health, for the games that you're playing, for how your stream is run. There's a lot of different boundaries that you need to set up. Um, you need to understand all of that. You need to understand yourself and what your tolerance level are for different things. And you want to try to stick to your boundaries. You know, as Kathy and Destiny said earlier, and as Chillen and with Dev said a few months ago, um you need to feel comfortable in your own space. And if you don't feel comfortable in your own space, it's not gonna be good for for anyone, and it's going to mentally fatigue you, and you're not gonna be able to put your best effort forth. This is the stuff that's really going to make or break you as a creator, is understanding the stuff that's outside of overlays and outside of gear and all that stuff. Thanks so much for hanging out, everybody. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to like and share the podcast. Don't forget we are here every Wednesday on Twitter Spaces at 8 p.m. If you have a comment or an idea for a future episode, make sure to drop us an email at downtherabbithole at elevated.media. Thanks. Have a great day.