Twitch is now the number one online streaming site for bringing live video games, podcasts, irl and more. Following the permanent ban of a colleague of theirs and the subsequent difficulty of communication between the interested party and Twitch, some twitchers have announced a peaceful strike with the aim of obtaining greater clarity regarding the rules of the site they work on.
Here we report it entirely the strike poster, which will be read on Twitch on December 9 by participants.
#NOSTREAMDAY
The #nostreamday is a peaceful initiative born from an increasingly evident dissatisfaction of partners and streamers in general with the regulation and management of the same on the platform. It will consist of a strike day during which streamers will not go live and participating viewers will not join Twitch.
It arose from the recent events against a partner, permanently banned from the platform. We are not contesting the ban which is legitimate; but the way in which it was perpetrated, 6 months of waiting are simply inconceivable.
The method of evaluation of the bans is discretionary, with the risk of obvious errors by those who take charge of the decision.
The streamer often falls into unintended mistakes and all this could be avoided with greater clarity and transparency.
The ban is a measure that must be measured with judgment, we ask everyone to work together to improve working conditions, which would lead to a benefit for the whole platform. Several bans have come due to trifles or misunderstandings of clearly ironic or informative contexts. Streamers banned for inciting violence when they were simply commenting on news stories, also carrying out a useful information service for users. Physical gags absolutely not harmful to the person punished with the ban for self-harm, satire or harmless comedy punished with the ban for incitement to hatred.
Below are the points we would like to have taken into consideration, we thank you for your attention and we hope that all this can lead to a more prolific environment for creativity and professionalism.
1. Clarity of the rules. The rules of the platform are essentially very broad and generic guidelines of behavior and this makes it very difficult to configure specific cases. One example is the rule about not being able to advertise a banned streamer. But what is meant? Can't you name a banned user in any way? Ergo if someone deems a ban from a colleague unfair, couldn't they talk about it? In this case, the possibility of criticism should be protected, even towards the platform, which may have gray points on which to discuss. There are also controversies about the outfit: often garments have been considered sexually explicit, in other cases with the same garments not. What about things said by third parties in live video? If an offensive word is pronounced in a multimedia content or racist phrases are said, what should the streamer do? If he is simply commenting without endorsing such hate ideals he should not risk any sanction, as has happened on several occasions. If a guest utters disallowed terms? If he is a partner, he risks but if he is not, it is enough here too that these phrases / words are not supported or not? You cannot rely on chance, try to try or hope that moderation is lenient. Clarity on this too.
2. Unequal treatment. Without prosecuting intentions or analyzing specific cases, streamers are not sanctioned for actions that mirror others who have been punished. A rule either applies to everyone or does not apply to anyone, the reporting component is no longer acceptable. Choices that lead to economic damage and possible loss of work cannot be based on the reports of users who can be sent specifically to do so.
3. Satire and comedy. Often jokes, more or less strong, have been sanctioned. How should partners behave? Can you make jokes about everything? About something? What can't be joked about? With what tones do you go beyond the limit? Do you need disclaimers and the like?
4. Possibility to contest the suspensions. As a partner you have the possibility to do so (as a non-partner it is practically impossible to receive support on these things) but here too there is unequal treatment; some have direct contact with moderation, others do not. Secondly, it must be possible to contest the ban and receive a refund equal to the days of live skipped in the event that there was an error of assessment. Sometimes there are sentence reductions when mediation can be found, this is certainly fine but instant readmission must also be included if the streamer is found innocent.
5. The effects of permaban. Consider the impact of permaban for a streamer who over the years has created an environment made up of people doing the same job. With this sanction, human s are also affected; such as the inability to travel to travel or places where such people perform live IRLs, given that the streamer not only loses his channel but also the ability to appear in someone else's live. So ponder more on the implementation of this choice because it can lead to a real psychological breakdown. Obviously all this does not exist when the reasons for permaban are indisputable, such as nudity or pornography, violence, incitement to hatred and the like.
In case you want to participate in the strike, you viewers can do it too simply by not logging into Twitch during the day of the same strike.
#nostreamday
