Different from streaming don’ts here is a few of the unspoken rules of streaming. Each subject will be from a streamer perspective to a viewer perspective as well. Being a streaming and understanding a viewers standpoint is just as important as streaming itself. The better that you can understand your audience the easier you will understand streaming. These are the time of things that you normally will not know until you do it yourself or you see it done. I say this because a lot of people who want to start do not really research it before hand, they simply click their “Go Live” button and hope for the best. Which is totally fine, however you do not want to be caught in a place where it can be awkward or you find yourself doing one of these tacky unspoken rules.

No Self Promo
Streamer: DO NOT DO THIS. SERIOUSLY. There are a few things that look worse then when you go to a stream, or are the streamer, And you have someone random come into your chat to comment about their personal streams. As a streamer DO NOT do this to other streams. This includes veiled Self Promo ie: “Yeah I’m about to start the stream, have a great day though” Blah blah blah. Change this to “Heading to do a few things” or “I have to run for a bit, I might be back later” but do not self promo. Its a quick way to be scolded if not timed out or banned in a channel. This includes channels you may frequent every day. Chances are if you are close to the streamer they will talk about your stream when they pop in on their own terms. Not on yours.

Viewer: Don’t go into another streamers streams and shout out your friends and their streams. It looks tacky and does not help your friends. Not to mention its a great way for the channel you promo yourself/friends in to troll the promoted channel. This also includes if you are commenting on other streams. Its one thing to be in a stream but it’s another to be like “Oh so and so went live, Imma dip”. These don’t always make the streamer feel great. Sometimes we have to remember that the golden rule is key here.

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Talking about others while live
Streamer: Talking about other streamers when you are live is a quick way to be clipped and called out. It starts unnecessary drama and shouldn’t happen. Do you ever see HUGE partnered streamers talking about each other? Not normally. There is a reason for this. As much as there is a large percent that does like drama, or to hear the latest juice, there is also a larger part that does not want to join a stream to hear the streamer

Viewer: Stop trying to bait streamers into talking about another person. A big reason for this is you look foolish and drama fueled. Whats worse is that people will go to streamers chats and do this in order to bait these clips above as well too. If you try to do this which I STRONGLY would suggest not to. Respect the streamer. If they ask to drop the subject or not to talk about that here. Do it. Or again you risk being banned or timed out. Streamers have enough drama on their plate they don’t need to be baited into creating more. Politics and Religion are other topics that are widely known to not be spoken in twitch chats. Mostly due to the fact that so many people have various views on this and chat can become very sour very quick. Another reason is when you talk about these particular topics (Though any topic can also generate this) it normally becomes personal. Something a streamer may just not have the time to deal with when the time comes so the best practice is to avoid it all together. (Unless specifically stating that your channel is about this subject)

Back Seat Gaming:
This can be super tricky I would say a major rule of thumb would be to look at the tags at the bottom of the stream. If you do not see these tags it may just be safe to assume that the streamer DOES NOT want any spoilers or help. Twitch has tags where you can see if streamers are encouraging backseat gaming, or no spoilers or no back seating. Remember also that a lot of streamers do in fact talk out loud and they might appear to be asking for help but they aren’t really though. Before spilling the secrets of a boss fight or how to conquer the next aspect of a series of segments in a tough game, ASK. Or wait and see how the chat is. Normally a regular (If that’s not you) will help or will comment on ways to help.

Being Creepy/Asking way to personal questions OR  Hitting on streamer
Nobody likes this shit. Some times people forget that streamers DON’T want to talk about their life on stream. While others don’t mind it at all. Being creepy and trying to make something bigger with a streamer can make things super awkward. And what is awkward for one person is not for the next. For me I HATE when people call me baby or babe. My BF doesn’t even call me that and it makes me extremely uncomfortable. That being said I’m sure that there are streamers who actually enjoy this as well too. It really takes a lot of skill to read a streamer and what makes them feel icky. Not to mention if they have a web cam then you can NORMALLY see visibly if they are uncomfortable with the topic. This also means prying for personal information. If a question is asked once and the streamer declines replying, OR if they ignore the question, This is also a great indicator that they do not wish to respond. Some streamers just do not want their personal side to be showing to everyone and are hiding that. There is nothing wrong with that!

Talking about viewer numbers
Streamers:
This can also be a tricky one. I know a lot of people do not like to hear their viewer counts in fact a lot of people turn them off. It is however a great indicator on how you are doing though in terms of growth. As a streamer a lot of times people don’t want to hear viewers it can make them focus too much on them and it can make them nervous and not relaxed. Sometimes people also get a host with a bunch of viewers as well too and you don’t want to make it awkward in that sense by mentioning it. Whether they have a whole lot of viewers or a smaller number then normal. I normally turn off the viewer counts because when it is a slower day I focus too much on it and become quiet. However depending on my mood I do leave it on from time to time as well too!

Viewers:
Nothing is a big damper when someone comes in chat and points out “Where are all your viewers gone” or “Whoa how did you get so many viewers”. Let people live in the moment. This falls under the same category when viewers come into chat and comment how quiet the chat is. Sometimes chat is just quiet. Maybe there is a lot of lurkers for the day? It honestly just depends. But going into someones chat to point these out can really put a damper on how the stream is going.

Regardless, These are all valuable tips from both streamer and viewer perspectives brought to you by folks in the community! Be mindful and remember, If you aren’t being constructive, And you think your comment might hurt someone, Is it worth even saying it!