Twitchmay continue to be a dominant streaming platform, but it has still needed to undergo some significant changes in recent history. In 2021, hate raids became a major problem forTwitchstreamers, and the community demanded action from the platform’s developers. It took some time, but eventually, Twitch rolled out an arsenal of new moderation tools that have helped streamers filter out viewers joining their chat to harass them. Nevertheless, there’s still other aspects of the platform that users take umbrage with. Twitch’s system for reporting and banning users, for instance, has been a source of confusion and frustration for many users over the years.
It looks like Twitch has caught onto that frustration, because its latest major update overhauls the way thatTwitch users file reports and appeal bans. Twitch has a new system in place that’ll help users report others with more specificity than ever before, and there’s a new ban appeal portal that Twitch promises will improve communication between Twitch staff and users. The streaming platform doesn’t have a strong reputation when it comes to transparency, but these tools are a major sign of change. With the help of these upgrades, Twitch could make a major improvement in its communication skills in the coming months and years.
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Twitch’s New Approach to Reports and Appeals
The new tools that Twitch unveiled are simple, but flexible and intuitive.When reporting a Twitch account, users can now choose from a few default options or search for a more specific option from Twitch’s longer list of punishable offenses. Reports can also specify the type of content that’s being reported. In this way, users can communicate violations to Twitch more clearly and concisely, which should help Twitch moderate the platform more accurately. The new reporting tool will become available in stages over the next few months, but the concept already shares valuable insight into how Twitch examines reports and which information matters most to the moderators.
Twitch’s new appeal portal looks like a particularly good means of communication with Twitch. Not only can users search for specific punishments to appeal, but the portal can also give users information about how their present appeals are going and how past appeals have gone. Twitch says that the emails explaining appeal verdicts will provide more details about the decision than before too. Overall, the enhanced ability to track the appeals process and greater insight intoTwitch’s reasoning for banscould amount to far stronger communication between Twitch and its banned users than ever before.
Twitch is Changing for the Better
Unfortunately, Twitch has a long history of struggling to communicate with its users, no matter how important they are to the platform.When Dr Disrespect was permanently bannedin 2020, he told fans at first that Twitch hasn’t given him a reason for the suspension, which seems like an important thing to explain to someone earning a living through streaming. As he moved to YouTube Gaming, Ludwig also discussed his negative experiences communicating with Twitch, stating that he never felt that Twitch was interested in reaching out to him, in spite of his achievements.
It remains to be seen if Twitch’s new tools actually improve its communication skills, but they’re a clear step in the right direction. Twitch users have criticized the platform’s moderation as cryptic for a long time, so improving clarity on all sides of the process is definitely a smart move.Twitch is a massive platform, so it’s bound to communicate imperfectly with some users, but it still needs to do what it can to keep users up to date. Hopefully the new features live up to their intentions and give fans a better picture of what’s going on inside the streaming platform.
