since there's tons of ppl who have never streamed before their vtuber journey, i wanted to make an advice thread on building a community on twitch

granted i dont have 1k viewers or partnership, but in 2 years of twitch i built a lovely community and learned SO MUCH abt streaming

1) dont be shy with the ban button. theres freedom of speech, but not in your stream chat. if someone isnt explicitly breaking rules, if they have bad attitude, just ban em. keeping one toxic member may be one more view but think of how many ppl are driven away bc of their vibes

2) be stingy with your mods. especially since you will be starting out with less viewers, dont just mod the first nice person. keep people plebs for a month before modding them or until you get to know them off stream. mods are leaders of the community so be picky!!

3) if you get anxious from mean/sexual comments, remember that u are the one putting urself out there, ur trying something that not many ppl have the courage to do, who ever is hating is a coward behind the anonymity of a username while you are openly sharing your voice/game

4) taking streaming seriously is fine! however mentioning view count or how dead chat is can drive ppl away. entertain the viewers you do have and people will find their way to ur community. also dont let a smaller view count stop you from streaming different games!

5) not every viewer has to be your friend. having a small community its harder to ignore those who wish to get closer to u. some people you will naturally bond with but never force yourself into friendship with anyone no matter the support theyve given your channel!

6) some viewers will expect friendship. NO!! b firm on this point, 'streaming is my hobby, while i love to see u in chat it is not my responsibility to answer messages or spend time with u while i am offline, i have a life separate from streaming so dont assume im available 24/7'

7) some viewers may trauma dump in your chat. if someone begins to talk about their personal issues unprovoked you can absolutely ban them and not look back. however if you think a ban is too harsh clarify that you are not a psychologist and this is not the place to discuss this.

8) take frequent enough breaks so that streaming doesnt become a chore. i noticed that streaming went from a fun hobby to a chore when my mental heath was in the garbage. dont force yourself to stream if youre dreading it. take some time off so you may come back with energy!

thats all the advice for now! i hope this was helpful to someone!! if you have questions, thoughts, or your own experience with any of these things feel free to share below!