Original: More ways to deal with negative viewers and Twitch hate raids.
Streaming on Twitch is a fun and rewarding experience. There will come a time, however, when you’ll have to deal with unpleasant viewers. These can range from people just being plain disruptive and silly for attention to straight-up hating and being offensive. It’s an inevitable fact that you’ll encounter people like this sooner or later.
Fortunately, there are ways you can deal with Twitch hate raids and negative viewers to keep the fun going on your stream.
Don’t be mean
Negative viewers usually have one goal in mind and that is to get a rise out of you. Don’t let them succeed. Apart from not giving them what they want, you also don’t want your viewers to see a side of you that is mean. No matter what someone says, you need to be the bigger person.
How you handle these situations sets the tone for all of the streams that come after. If you start berating negative viewers, then that is what your fans are going to do on your behalf as well. Instead, be the person who tries to enforce rules and gives everyone a chance to play nice. At the end of the day, you always have the option of banning negative viewers.
Fear not, the ban hammer
We see time and time again newly minted streamers being afraid to ban people from their chat. It’s an understandable behavior as it’s like slamming the door in someone’s face. Nobody likes doing that. At the same time, though, allowing someone to continuously be disruptive and insulting only ruins the stream for your actual fans and viewers.
By all means, ensure that you’re giving people a chance to become a part of your community. However, if they leave you no choice or if they’re being offensive and toxic, then don’t be afraid to give them the boot and ban them.
Point out the rules
Unlike viewers who participate in Twitch hate raids, not all negative viewers aren’t aware they’re being negative. Perhaps they’re making a joke they make on someone else’s channel that just isn’t acceptable on your stream. It’s for these cases that you want your first reaction to always be to point to your rules (which you have set up, right?).
Assuming that someone is being mean or negative right off the bat will only make you more enemies down the line. Instead, you could potentially win over an entirely unexpected new fan in someone to whom you gave the opportunity to make things right.
Review cases with your viewers
You are only human and you’re not always going to get your responses to negativity right. If you’re unsure of the way you dealt with a situation, it never hurts to ask your viewers for some feedback. Perhaps they didn’t think someone being a bit too spammy with their emotes was that bad. Or maybe they don’t mind a bit of good-natured ribbing.
Regardless, you’ll never know how your Twitch audience feels about certain behaviors until you ask them. Not only will you have more perspective for next time, but also you’ll give your fans an even bigger reason to trust your judgment.
Sometimes words are just words
People are going to say what they’re going to say on the internet. That’s just a fact of life according to the scientifically accurate Internet Jerk Formula. Anonymity sometimes brings the worst out of people and there’s nothing you can do about it. But you know what you can control? Your response.
Whether it’s a mild bite-back or just simple silence, giving negative comments and behavior the cold shoulder is usually all you need to do. Unless they’re being egregiously offensive with racist and misogynistic comments, there’s very little reason to respond to deliberate disruptiveness. Don’t give negative viewers the power they crave and they’ll eventually read the room for themselves and leave.
Related: 8 Ways To Stop Twitch Hate Raids Now
For more on Twitch hate raids, check out this video from Nutty.