Moderation: keeping your chat safe from day one

Most new streamers skip moderation because three viewers don't need moderating. That's exactly backwards: you set this up while nothing is happening, because the day something happens — a raid from a big channel, or a coordinated hate raid — you will be live, on camera, and unable to read documentation.

1. Turn on AutoMod

AutoMod holds risky messages for approval before they appear in chat. It's built in, free, and catches most of what you'd want caught.

1. Creator Dashboard → Settings → Moderation.
2. Turn AutoMod on and pick a level. Level 2 to 3 is a sensible default — level 4 catches almost everything but will hold plenty of harmless messages too.
3. You can tune individual categories (discrimination, sexual content, hostility, profanity) separately.
4. Add blocked terms for anything specific to you — your real name, your address, slurs AutoMod misses, or a running joke that's turned nasty.

2. Get one mod before you think you need one

You cannot moderate and play a game at the same time. You will be focused on the game, and a moderator sees chat when you don't.

• Type `/mod username` in your chat, or add them under Community → Roles.
• Ask one friend early. It costs them nothing on a quiet stream.
• Tell them explicitly what you want removed. "Use your judgement" puts them in an impossible position the first time something is borderline.
• As you grow, promote regulars who are already in chat every stream — they know your community's norms.

3. Know your chat modes

These are your live controls. Learn what they do now so you can reach for the right one under pressure.

• Followers-only — only people who followed (optionally, followed *X minutes ago*) can chat. The most effective anti-spam setting, because bot accounts are usually brand new.
• Slow mode — limits how often each person can send a message. Good for fast chats, useless against a raid.
• Subscribers-only — the nuclear option. Stops nearly everything, and also silences every legitimate new viewer.
• Emote-only — surprisingly useful for defusing a heated moment without ending the conversation entirely.

4. If you get hate-raided

A hate raid is a coordinated flood of abusive messages, usually from throwaway accounts. It feels personal. It almost never is — targets are typically picked at random or by tags.

1. Turn on Shield Mode. It's the button in your dashboard designed exactly for this, and it applies aggressive protections instantly. Set up its options in advance so one click does the right thing.
2. Switch to followers-only with a time requirement (say, 30 minutes or a day). Throwaway accounts fail this instantly.
3. Do not read them out or respond. Reacting is the entire point of the exercise; boredom ends it faster than anything you can say.
4. Let your mods ban. Don't try to do it yourself mid-game.
5. Report the accounts afterwards, not during.
6. Consider ending the stream if it doesn't settle. Ending a stream is not losing. Your wellbeing outranks a session's stats.

5. Decide your rules before you need them

Write three or four rules in a channel panel. Not a legal document — just the things that actually matter to you.

• Be decent to each other.
• No backseating unless asked.
• No self-promotion / "come watch me" in chat.
• No spoilers.

Having them written down means enforcing them isn't personal — you're applying a rule, not picking a fight. That distinction matters enormously when the person breaking it is a regular.

The setup checklist

• ☐AutoMod is on at level 2–3.
• ☐Blocked terms include my real name and anything specific to me.
• ☐At least one friend is a mod, and knows what I want removed.
• ☐I know where Shield Mode is before I need it.
• ☐I know how to switch to followers-only in under ten seconds.
• ☐My chat rules are written in a channel panel.
• ☐Desktop notifications are off and nothing private is captured.

Twitch's own Safety Center covers the platform-side tools in more depth, and is worth reading once while nothing is wrong.