Twitch creates a "safety council" to help it advise on various policy issues

https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/14/21258673/twitch-safety-advisory-council-moderation-online-toxicity

Today, Twitch is announcing the formation of its new Safety Advisory Council, a group made up of streamers, academics, and nonprofit leaders that will advise the company on online safety issues. The council will help Twitch draft new policies and update old ones, develop new products for safety and moderation, protect the interests of marginalized people, and identify new, toxic trends emerging from the platform.

On the streamer side, the group is comprised of Twitch partners who have been using the site full-time for years; they’ve brought on CohhCarnage, Cupahnoodle, FerociouslySteph, and Zizaran, who are some of the site’s more prominent (and distinct) personalities. The academics are Sameer Hinduja and T.L. Taylor, who are experts in cyberbullying and internet / game studies, respectively. Rounding out the team are Alex Holmes, the deputy CEO of The Diana Award, and Emma Llansó, the director of the Center for Democracy & Technology’s Free Expression Project.

What’s most interesting about these people is, as a group, they’re experts in Twitch and experts in online moderation, which Twitch has struggled with for a while. Perhaps most notable is Zizaran, who, in a press release, says he’s looking forward to helping Twitch clarify its rules about bans and suspensions. The seeming inconsistency of moderation enforcement on the platform has led to a number of clarifications of the Twitch TOS, and a separate council that’s tasked with making things clearer for streamers is a very smart way to show that the company is being proactive about its enforcement actions.

The ambiguity around Twitch’s rules has led to some interesting behavior from streamers who find themselves running afoul of them; the latest example was the prominent streamer Natalia “Alinity” Mogollon giving herself a three-day suspension after she accidentally showed her nipple on a stream. (Mogollon has been the center of a few rules controversies herself.)

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One of the council members

Steph has been a full time streamer since her debut playing competitive collegiate Heroes of the Storm in 2016. She was one of the first transgender streamers to ever be partnered on Twitch, and the first to bring a transgender pride flag emote to the platform. Her fight for inclusivity includes creating a competitive team composed entirely of marginalized gamers, and vehemently opposing non inclusive mechanics such as voice chat.

https://blog.twitch.tv/en/2020/05/14/introducing-the-twitch-safety-advisory-council/

no comment

 

[GhostButt]

How does being dyslexic have nothing to do with voice chat?? Like maybe I dunno TRYING TO TYPE UNDER DURESS OF COMBAT MIGHT BE HARD FOR SOMEONE WHO TYPES LIKE SHIT BECAUSE LETTERS DON'T STAY IN ORDER.

This whole problem is a non-starter, how is outing the timbre of your voice to your teammates gatekeeper to pro competitive e-sports? Like y'all wear jerseys and go to tourneys in person.

Typing is also impossible while aiming or doing anything else, and team communication is sort of, ya know, what makes it a team and not just playing solo with bots. All this "movement" could ever possibly do is make a dystopian set of rules that you can't communicate in game at all, it would be like football where the teams plan things out ahead of time and then wing it if the play goes south rather than respond as a coordinated team that can freely communicate while moving/shooting.

It simply isn't going to happen, and it's a bizarre hill to die on, did noone vet these people at all, like the twitch of yore where furry admins would make a crop of their lovers vore art a global emote?

 

[Jaimas]

Well, I hope to god none of you put away your Johnny Walker, because it's time to take quite a few shots.

Veterans of the Autism Holy War may remember that one of the things that led to the Gamers Are Over articles were a Tumblr post tied to a think-tank called DIGRA. This think-tank, originally intended to analyze trends and storytelling methods in video games, got captured by progressive activists around 2008, and was quickly led towards trying to establish a need for diversity in the gaming industry.

The only problem is that every study they performed showed the exact opposite. Around the time of the Autism Holy War's outset, they decided to claim their studies proved it anyway. We all know what happened from there. Anyway, while the main individual writing this shit was one Adrienne Shaw, another who was a major contributor to the ongoing "WE NEED DIVERSITY IN GAMES!" shit was none other than one T.L. Taylor.

The very same one that just joined Twitch as a member of its safety council, alongside an insane man who thinks he's a female deer and believes voice chat is inherently ableist. Someone greenlit this business decision. Someone unironically thought this was a good idea.

 

[vertexwindi]

Holy fuck I just saw that clip of him pretending to be a doe. I thought people were fucking with me, what the hell.

 

[neverendingmidi]

Trying to find the post, but FS said it was about reclaiming the antlers, a traditionally male symbol as a trans female empowerment thing. Seems dumb as hell to claim a predominantly male trait if you want to present female.

Next up: wearing a crown of fascinus to show how womanly you are

 

[Manwithn0n0men]

"Safety Councils" exist so if a company is sued over Harrassment on their platform they can point to the effort of the Safety Council as their making a REASONABLE ATTEMPT to keep the platform "Safe"

 

[Grumpy]

It's hilarious that the deer furry identifies as female while wearing antlers- except for reindeer, does of every deer species lack antlers, and those definitely aren't reindeer antlers that txe's wearing.

I would just like to point out that a doe with abnormally high testosterone levels can grow antlers. I wonder if he knew that when he decided it was a good idea to add them to his costume.

 

[Spectre_06]

Before this shitshow, Ziz was the only streamer I knew of on that council. Pretty level-headed guy, honestly, and a good watch. Now I know about the troon who thinks it's a deer and my question is since it doesn't think it's a human, can I hunt it during deer season?

 

[ditto]

Someone greenlit this business decision. Someone unironically thought this was a good idea.

 

[Ebonic Tutor]

Before this shitshow, Ziz was the only streamer I knew of on that council. Pretty level-headed guy, honestly, and a good watch. Now I know about the troon who thinks it's a deer and my question is since it doesn't think it's a human, can I hunt it during deer season?

If you have your deer hunting licence for the season and permission to hunt on the property by the owner I wouldn't see why not.

 

[Trashfire Garbagefuck]

shitting on dyslexic people really proves these fuckers don't give a fuck about "marginalized peoples" or whatever the fuck term they wanna use. it's THEIR group and no one else. anyone else is only valuable in the sense that they can advance their own group. they see enemies, and vassals groups, nothing else.

 

[Ebonic Tutor]

shitting on dyslexic people really proves these fuckers don't give a fuck about "marginalized peoples" or whatever the fuck term they wanna use. it's THEIR group and on one else. anyone else is only valuable in the sense that they can advance their own group. they see enemies, and vassals groups, nothing else.

Yep, it's been that way for a looooong time now. It's all a couple different cliques pretty much and if you're not in the right ones you're fair game.

 

[Lieutenant Rasczak]

From what I hear, Cohh and Ziz are decent fits. This council is a shitty idea to begin with but if twitch is going to have one, Cohh and Ziz would be better than most of the other members from what I hear. They'll probably end up abusing their powers because power is a corroding and corrupting element.

They're at least more reasonable than Steph who is a self righteous asshole who doesn't listen to others opinions and will abuse his power. If I were Twitch, I'd make council members accountable for shitty actions they take. Then again, this is twitch we're talking about. A shithole streaming publisher that's been known to fuck up on a constant basis.

 

[tehpope]

And here's Mutahar talking about it

पागल = mad