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alright, this has sort of been bubbling under the surface for a while now, but after a streamer interaction i had today, i feel like now's a good time for this rant:
twitch is a platform of streamers. for streamers. built by streamers. word one. twitch is a streamer community.
twitch is a platform of streamers. for streamers. built by streamers. word one. twitch is a streamer community.
if you are a twitch streamer, and it bugs you that other people may, at any point, talk about being a streamer in your chat, then you may want to consider what it is you are doing on this platform.
i get not wanting people to self promo. i get not wanting to people to just yap on and on about what they are doing and streaming. i get not wanting people to come in and plug their events unsolicited in your chat. that's one thing. that's understandable.
but there are (gasp!) other streamers watching you. right now. they're in your channel and interacting with you. and if you think that ANY HINT that they are also, in fact, a streamer, counts as "self promo".
i have to hit you with "where do you think we are right now?" dot gif.
i have to hit you with "where do you think we are right now?" dot gif.
i imagine it must boggle your mind when you log into twitch and you aren't the only one streaming. when you realize there are hundreds of thousands of other people out here on this exact grind that you're on. hoping to make it somewhere. this isn't EXCLUSIVELY YOUR WEBSITE????
streamers like to relate to other streamers. they build each other up through common ground. sometimes, that means talking about their own streams in chat. and not in a promotional way. just in a personal way. they want to build relationships. communities. like what twitch has.
there are so many people that i actively watch out here that don't do shoutouts. that don't do "guide the raid". that don't... raid at all. they take their 15+ viewers and end the stream. they do NOTHING to build a community. they're a minority but they exist.
i WOULD NOT. BE ABLE. TO DO THIS. without BIGGER STREAMERS. giving me a chance. raiding me. shouting me out. i have that SAME ABILITY. and i am USING IT. i WILL USE IT. and i will FOLLOW OTHERS that put in effort to BUILD THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES. OUR COMMUNITY!
we are all trying to succeed out here, and the true way to do that is to help each other out. there are a lot of streamers out there doing that exact thing. entire discords that have grown beyond F4F and actually foster a positive and growing community on twitch.
small streamer support is more than just F4F, it's about talking to your fellow streamers as... fellow streamers. co-creators. not just "your fans" and "your followers". this isn't all about you. it's about us. we succeed together. we make change on #twitch together.
PS: if you read through this thread and you feel like this is a personal attack? let me paraphrase trent reznor paraphrasing carly simon:
"you're so vain. i bet you think these tweets are about you?"
"you're so vain. i bet you think these tweets are about you?"
