Stream Etiquette Pt 5: Calling Out Lurkers and Mentioning Numbers

Chances are, a streamer you're watching is in some form or another completely aware of the people in his/her chat.

Be it through their chat bot and a list of names of who is currently viewing the broadcast, or some form of view tracker on their channel?? They are being shown live updates as the number decreases, increases, or remains static.

But not all streamers like looking at the count (or may even have settings in their chatbot to where it won't even show their viewers) because they may feel pressure, especially if they JUST got raided and that view count went even higher.

However, be it if they are aware of the amount of active viewers or ignoring it, its poor taste to mention how many they have to a streamer. It derogates the viewer to the context of a simple number and they could end up leaving due to feeling offended at being referred to in a statistical means. Plus the streamer may get offended at someone mentioning the view count he/she was trying to avoid looking at.

This also goes in line with bringing up someone's follows unless they hit a milestone, such as the next hundred or thousand. Usually during such events, if its an active chat they'll spam the channel with messages such as 'xxxfollow hype!' or something similar. In such cases it's of course ok to do the same.

I myself am thankful for those who've followed me and undoubtedly supported me in the years I've been doing this, but in my second run on Mixer as I moved past multiple hundreds followers? I at times had people in my chat give me an updated follow count after every new follower, which again, made them sound like a statistic. I don't like my followers being dehumanized, plus to me its just obnoxious all around.

Next subject based around telling someone number counts for viewers/follows.

'xx viewers in chat but only xx are speaking' as I had a viewer say in one of my streams.

And I'm sure I'm not the only one who has heard similar.

If someone isn't talking? Respect that maybe they have reasons for not talking and saying such things could make some of those people either even less likely to speak due to feeling pressured (assuming they stay after that) or if they do speak? The words that are said may not be too kind to you.

So if the streamer isn't addressing those not talking, let alone his viewers addressing them? Then don't do it yourself.

What likely matters to that streamer is simply that talking or not? Someone is at least spending time on their channel.

To clarify as I did in chapter 8 of my streaming guides, a lurker is a viewer who doesn't speak in chat but still hangs around, and there is nothing wrong with someone lurking.

Real talk? In the short amount of time I spent on another streaming site called DLive, just about every one of my followers had been people who supported me in my time on Twitch and Mixer prior.

Those same people were also the only one's who usually spoke in my chat, while the rest of the viewers who showed up would 9 times out of 10 lurk, never speak, and never follow.

But it was whatever. I still did my thing.

So, the other viewers who weren't talking that our overly observant viewer in question pointed out could have been lurking or afk (Away From Keyboard), and I made it clear that if they didn't want to talk then they by no means were obligated to.

Mentioning others not speaking is a good way to cost a streamer some of his/her viewers especially if (like my streams have been since my first year at this) its stated as a lurk friendly chat, meaning a viewer can watch the stream and not have to worry about being spoken to or addressed unless they speak first.

Respect that some people are shy or are simply focused more on the gameplay at the moment especially if it's a cutscene and will talk once that scene has passed. If they don't talk then? That's ok too.

Some may simply not be able to socialize well or they may of simply had a bad day and don't feel like talking, yet the streamer they're watching is playing a game they enjoy and its helping them cope.

Before trying to oust people on their lack of socializing? Ask yourself, would you want to talk to someone who is seemingly judging you or forcing you to speak?

Another subject.

If you see that a streamer has a donation goal for a specific thing (be it bills, a game, computer upgrades, etc) Its ok to bring up if you're interested in helping towards the goal or just curious on what the goal is for.

But don't constantly bring it up, let alone any donations they received, nor make jokes about the goal.

Unless you are contributing to it or want to ask a question about it? Its none of your concern.

Also, its very bad form to come onto a channel and brag about your own numbers, specifically how many followers you yourself have, more so if its exaggerated (I know this may have been more suited to mention in the F4F/Self Promo section, but c'est la vie)

If you're making strides as a streamer then good for you and all the best to you on a hopeful road to success, but don't brag about it and make it seem like a competition.

Especially if you claim to have hundreds or even thousands of followers just for someone to see upon a quick glance at your page that you have only a couple if any at all.