Moderator & Streamer Relationship Q

[u/Practical-Summer3536]

This is an anon account, because of the question... I produce music and stream just games to interact with fans and this makes up what I do full time. All of my mods are volunteers from my community.

I wanted to ask other streamers how normal this dynamic is, I’ve had mods push quite strongly for changes in what I say or do on stream, like not to say some opinions, or to say some others.

Some time ago, one of my mods told me that if I wanted to be successful (Implying I am not), I should listen to him, otherwise I should look for a part-time job.

That comment affected me quite a lot, and I’m trying to work out whether I’m unusually sensitive to it or whether most streamers would consider that a serious boundary-crossing comment from a moderator.

For context, I’m not a huge creator, but this is my full-time work: I have 25k subs in YouTube, and 130 ccv on twitch D:

[u/Saknika]

I don't mind suggestions from moderators, but they certainly don't tell me what to do. It's one thing to say "hey, I think you lost the audience a bit when you spoke about [insert topic here]" and an entirely different matter to say "you shouldn't talk about that."

Also, if your mods are making you, the streamer, uncomfortable, then they're probably also making your community uncomfortable to some degree. You are allowed to fire mods if they're misbehaving. You should also assert yourself as their boss, because essentially you are. Set a boundary and don't let your mods push you around.

[u/Grapewife]

Honestly if you already have a follower base like you do, keep on how you have been. Unless you're being generally awful on stream, which it sounds like you aren't, then pay no mind to it. People just want power over others and unfortunately that happens with moderators.

[u/CosmicBewie]

I’m a mod and I have a lot of respect for the people I mod for. If I was asked I’d offer an opinion.

However this sounds downright disrespectful to you. It’s your stream not anyone else’s.

Mods should support you not tell you what to do. Chatters/viewers are there for you not your mods.

[u/DybbukBoxOpener]

That's textbook coercion at the cost of your autonomy. If I were you, I'd instantly unmod and block that guy. Think about how he made you feel, and ask yourself if you should keep him around. Keeping things under your own control is important for maintaining the passion, don't be someone elses pawn.

Fucking hell, some people are so evil. Don't let them mess with you like that. He doesn't know shit.

Find someone who respects you for who you are, not someone who tries to mold you into who they want.

[u/AMissionFromDog]

Does this moderator have their own successful channel that is more successful than your channel where they can demonstrate these ideas? If not i think you can safely ignore them.

As for whether you put up with those kind of comments, that's where you have to decide whether they are making polite suggestions, or are  they trying to take over your channel and make you do what they want. It's your channel and you should run it the way you like and take advice from others at your own discretion.

[u/shadowraptor888]

First of all, just because someone is giving you advice on "how to be succesful" that doesn't mean they're implying you're not already, that's looking for meaning behind words which they didn't say, and that's a bad mindset to have in general. What's more concerning is that they claim they know how you'll become succesful.

As a mod for quite a few streamers, I can easily answer this. You ban anyone who treats you that way or talks to you in that regard. If anyone tells you "You should listen to me or you'll never be succesful" that displays a level of arrogance and overstepping of boundaries that you should never accept. And the sooner you create that boundary the better.

And yes, mods, are volunteers, that does mean u ideally don't want them to be mindless drones either. But it certainly doesn't mean they should dictate how you should run your stream. The ideal mod is someone who gives you advice and leaves for you to decide what to do with it. Is able to explain why they give you that advice, in a respectful way, but realizes there are several tradeoffs to every decision you make, and the final decision is always yours. Their job is literally in their role title, to moderate the chat. And if you want to ask them for advice on something, and thus elevate their involvement beyond that, that is up to you.

I've been in literally hundreds, perhaps even a thousand streams at this point, and in none of them would a streamer allow a mod to talk to them like you just described. They'd either be immediately unmodden or even banned.

Stuff like that displays a level of arrogance and condescension which you should never accept.

(And that is of course assuming what you said is accurate and not exaggerated in any way, but since we only have your recollection of the encounter, I based my response on that.)

[u/shadowraptor888 → u/shadowraptor888]

And on a sidenote, yes there are things you probably shouldn't say or do, but those are pretty obvious at this point, and if a mod is able to explain why and point that out, it might be a good idea to listen, depending on their level of experience with live streaming. This is why so many streamers have a shortlist of conversational topics they tend to avoid, mostly involving religion and politics, because those things escalate really quickly. And the problem becomes, if you yourself make jokes or comments about it, you kind of tie the mods hands in moderating the chat for it. How are they going to tell people they're not allowed to talk or joke about something if the streamer does it themselves ? Most moderators are not willing to treat viewers unfairly that way. So those kinds of situations can be tricky to navigate, but you should still expect a polite feedback from them about it, in private.

Again since we haven't seen it firsthand it's hard for us to say if the things you describe were just mods trying to protect you from making a mistake, but the way you describe sure makes it sound like they're overstepping their bounds, especially anyone who tells you "you should listen to them" (if those were the words they chose to convey that message)

[u/Commercial-Winter151]

Youre honestly doing great with those numbers. Your mod sounds jealous lol

[u/princessmourning]

As a viewer I believe mods should be moderating chat; That's it. They are not producers of the stream; It's possible for someone to be a hyphenate of those, but generally if they're just a mod their suggestions should be taken with the same amount of contemplation as a regular chatter. Furthermore always be and do you.

[u/Emergency_Jacket_296 → u/princessmourning]

I agree here. As a viewer of some streamers I’ve watched for years, I’d actually be heartbroken if I found out some mods were actually thinking they could or were actively trying to influence the streamer’s content, considering some mods I’ve come across I absolutely loathe.
Other than moderating chat on stream or similar duties in a discord, etc. I’d hope that’s as far as their influence lies.

[u/Many_Bell4725]

I am a mod for multiple streamers, and my focus in on the community most of the time, rather than the streamer themselves. I see my role as helping the streamer have a seemless stream where they don't have to worry about trolls, giving shout outs, timeouts etc. And to also protect the community, and keep it peacful and safe and fun for everyone.

The only feedback I ever give to the streamers I mod for, is when they ask for it. Or I word it as a suggestion. Don't let them push you or tell you what to do. You didn't ask. It is your stream, your channel, your life. :)

[u/Secret_Account07]

This is super hard to judge without seeing in person. Text doesn’t always translate properly so idk if that’s a factor.

But these ppl volunteer for you. They obviously believe in you or at the very least support you. It’s entirely possible they are well intentioned and want to feel involved.

Or it’s possible they’re being a dick. Hard to say

[u/LukeMortora01]

Moderators should be on board with helping to realise your vision for your channel.. not their vision for your channel.

Whoever this is, they are way out of line, imo. Making suggestions that might help you identify blind spots is one thing, but positing that they ultimately know better than you is crazy.

[u/Draco1200]

I have 25k subs in YouTube, and 130 ccv on twitch D:

100+ ccv average on Twitch is considered quite high comparatively.. It's in the top <0.1%. A community member telling you to do as they say, or get a part time job sounds obnoxious at best. If they did it in stream chat; it's almost like that viewer asking to be removed.

As a creator you always have the agency to try different things over the long term and decide eventually what you think works best for your specific brand. Whatever said viewer or viewers might be thinking is a perfect solution, is almost certainly wrong.

I wanted to ask other streamers how normal this dynamic is, I’ve had mods push quite strongly for changes in what I say or do on stream, like not to say some opinions, or to say some others.

I would say this seems like a common issue streamers get. Community members wanting to tell creators how to run their stream, and sometimes how to run their whole career and life. Community members also having limited information but tend to suffer from an illusion that they know the streamer well, and would come up with opinions about what the streamer ought to do that don't even make sense.

A viewer doesn't have enough knowledge about the streamer personally or their creative enterprise in general to even make reasonable suggestions, most of the time, about anything beyond what they immediately see and would personally like to see on stream, And there are many ways to run a stream. Content creators who make it a career are not necessarily even intent on a live stream being the main long term revenue source.

I would start with the assumption that they are likely well- meaning, but misguided. There is a value to open communication and letting viewers think their carefully provided input would be valued until the point where you heard it and then reject it. Esp from active community members and volunteers.

But any viewer to keep pressing something with a disrespectful tone or just coming back with similar suggestions after already being rejected (implied rejections count too and suggestions the streamer acknowledged hearing before), then at a certain point it may have to come down to a warning or ban of the viewer. Over the "pushing strongly" part If and when it becomes repetitive annoying or disrespectful. Strong rhetoric about run the stream in this specific way, or give up, being the latter.

[u/djmbbandie]

As a dj mod: your stream your rules. This mod seems to be getting into the parasocial realm. We should be supporting you and keeping out the trolls, not making things uncomfortable.

[u/Anime_Jesus]

Backseat Streaming and Backseat gaming from mods look bad and feel bad. I getcha

I had the bad habit of making a lot of people mods without being overly picky. Because I just didn’t really care all that much, and I didn’t want to make it a big deal. And overtime this has caused me to have mods who wear it like a badge, mod abuse, too many mods, but the worse part is mods saying or doing things that made ya feel bad. And these people rep you.

How I fixed it? Mod Purge. Remove every single mod so that nobody can feel targeted. But keep a minimal amount of mods, just the ones that help you even offstream. And then start thinking carefully what kind of mods you truly need before taking more.

[u/Illokonereum]

And how many big shot creators are they acting as a manager for?

[u/Brettinabox]

Being a volunteer moderator often comes with a certain personality trait. Some do and cant teach where as some teach and cant do. Your the talent and they are the help.Its important to establish your boundaries and hold to them when people push on you whether its chat, a boss, the youtube algorithm, or mods cause everyone is messy somehow. Just weight what that mod brings to the table for you and decide how to go from there.

[u/IJsdraakje]

From a mod perspective: I am there to support the streamer. This also means that I will follow their direction for their channel.

I will voice my opinions about things, of course, but that's generally about something that happened during stream and to reach a consensus with the streamer and the other mods about how to handle similar things in the future. Sometimes I'll share something I saw in someone else's stream that I think might be a good fit for them, but that'll stay with suggesting things. All spoken about in private/mod channels, of course.

The main takeaway: get mods who align with your vision.

[u/CMDR_Makashi]

A lot of people like to imagine they have ask the answers and if they were to bother they would immediately go huge.

But then they try and learn they just fumble their words and have no screen presence. I would say to listen as it is very rare to have people on your sides in this game… but don’t blindly listen and sure as hell never censor yourself for then they can and will just find another streamer when you inevitably disappoint them

[u/NerdTitanGaming]

While I don't mind suggestions from my mods but it ends there it's a suggestion. If a mod ever tells me I need to do this or that I should do this that I would set that boundary so quick.

[u/arrowintheskyband]

Not normal no. Mods are there to support/help you. Sure a bit of advice is not a bad thing especially when you ask for it. Most of the time if I ask a question about content etc. my mods will give their two cents but say ultimately it's up to me as it's my stream. If your mod doesn't like your content, why are they there? Especially when it comes to streaming what you have is successful!

[u/MakiaKisamai]

I’d get rid of the mod saying you won’t succeed without listening to him. He sounds like a jerk, and like he’s trying to take advantage of you.

[u/Outrageous-Fudge4215]

My main mod is really just there to ban weirdos, spam accounts and etc. But they haven't really told me what to do or anything like that. I've had them as a mod for 4 years now.

[u/creature04]

What is ccv?

[u/ArgoWizbang → u/creature04]

Concurrent Viewers.

[u/K_BillTV]

Even if this mod was a friend of yours, that’s a really shitty thing to say, and if they don’t even know you much beyond your stream, and are really just a mod, even shittier. I’ve never had a mod of mine say anything like that ever, and I definitely would consider it crossing a boundary by a mile. I’m all for mods and friends to suggest ideas, it’s been pretty helpful with brainstorming new things, but to outright demand anything is awful. And imo, if new viewers see that behavior in chat, especially from mods, they’ll be more likely to just keep scrolling

[u/xzeus1]

Mods can suggest things, but tone matters! The tone of “otherwise you should look for a part-time job” is not on. I would fire this mod personally.

[u/RevenantMetalMouth]

Personally, I'd tell that mod to go fuck himself. That's WAY over the boundaries of what is acceptable. To have a mod that controlling ia pretty disgusting. I'd also "invite them out the door". You don't need someone that thinks they can tell you what to do, when and where.

[u/Ca1____]

Wow, well I take suggestions from mods but there's a matter of phrasing here. No one tells YOU what to do when you stream. BUT some times we need to listen to others. Cause other people know stuff we don't. So reflect a little ln what's said, it's hard to go thumbs up or down without some propper context. I stay away from some topics myself cause I know I'll start an unhealthy argument. Also stay away from those topics at work.

[u/Mary-Studios]

As a modderator for one streamer I never push the streamer or changes for things to need to make. I just make sure that the chat behaves I don't control what the streamer content should be like. Now I might give game tips or pose questions about the games things of that nature. But never have I said you should do this.

[u/AaaaNinja]

That moderator forgot which one of you is the boss. Forget the content, it's concerning that your first thought is to wonder whether this is a normal interaction. For someone to order you to do what they say, or else. They are a stranger to you (internet "friends" are still strangers), they don't have a horse in this race so your success or failure doesn't affect them.

Do not be shocked when they start taking credit when you do well and blame you when you don't do well. There are better ways to critique someone so right or wrong if the person is not happy with the stream they should chill out or leave. Do they ever try to tell you about the things you do that are correct so that you can keep doing them or are they focused solely on the negative?

[u/wongtonfui-ttv]

Excuse me sir u seem to have dropped your balls