Twitch mod commands

When you get to the point where your channel starts attracting a constantly rising crowd, the issue of enforcing the channel’s (as well as platform’s) regulations is bound to pop up.

While it might seem almost impossible to keep your entire channel in check, you will soon see that solving this problem is a  breeze when you have sufficient information and a useful set of ideas in mind regarding the usage of Twitch mod commands.

1. What are Twitch moderator commands?

These functions are, in most cases, reserved for broadcasters and their moderator teams to help keep the public within a stream in line with the basic rules and regulations.

 

However, Twitch mod powers also contain several commands that are available to virtually anyone, thus making them invaluable tools for both interacting with other participants in a stream as well as exerting a large amount of control over the stream’s outcome, depending on your role.

 

Ask any streamer who has a vast audience and focuses on making content centered around fast-paced, competitive games that can really “bring out the fire” in the audience.

 

Sometimes chat boxes can get as wild as a football stadium, minus the noise! As fun and exciting as it often is, it’s worth remembering that there is a thin line that gets crossed too often, and it can transform a friendly chat into a pit of vulgarity if left unchecked for too long.

Now, conflicts rarely do get to that stage, yet the activities of moderators on Twitch are stereotypically associated with those activities. It might sound surprising, but these commands, aside from helping you keep your streams profanity-free, serve as excellent utility tools as well!

 

1. Universal commands that anyone can use

Although seemingly quite complex, Twitch operates on a set of straightforward commands that everyone can quickly learn and utilize. There is a large pallet of commands that can modify and enhance your experience regardless of your position, and these are some of the most basic ones;

1. View all the moderators on a specific channel (command: /mods) – Whether it is your first time on a channel or if you are the owner of the channel in question, this command is invaluable for getting to know accounts that you can turn to for help (in case you are a viewer) or for reviewing the team you assigned to moderate your channel (as a broadcaster).

Mods are an invaluable asset to any channel and are pretty much imperative for the smooth operation of massive channels with thousands of followers on each stream; it’s a good idea to keep them in mind in case a problem pops up.

2. Review the list of a channel’s VIP’s (command: /vips) – A VIP is a role given to viewers that have earned a special place within the streamer’s community with their invaluable contributions to the quality the channel provides. 

These people are often the”Haut monde” of a particular channel, personally recognized by the channel’s streamer. They usually enjoy privileged treatment due to their contributions and, as such, are quite handy to know. This command gives you the ability to recognize and, later, get into contact with VIPs of a channel if you so desire.

3. 3. Modify the color of your username within a stream’s chat (command: For non-turbo users- /color {COLORNAME}, for turbo users- /color {HEX VALUE}  or /color {COLORNAME}) – Name colors give life to a stream’s chat! With so many different variations, it is always a pleasing sight to see a combination of creative names and colors within a stream.

The selection is quite diverse for all users, as you can pick out variations such as SeaGreen, BlueViolet, SpringGreen, BlueViolent, etc… 

Turbo users receive additional customization options as they can enter any Hex value (for example, #00000) that represents a color, as well as the previous color selection option that is available to non-turbo users. 

4. Block an annoying user (command: /block {USERNAME}, or by clicking on the “Block” option near their a user’s badge) – Did you get tired from witnessing rude or otherwise unwanted comments from a particular participant within a stream’s chat? If so, banning is the perfect command for you.

While a large majority of Twitch chat commands serve the purpose of enhancing networking and adding content to a stream, there are times when using block commands is an absolute necessity for making your experience an enjoyable one.  If you feel a user has gone a step further and has broken one of the rules of the stream, you should report them to a moderator.

5. Remove someone from your ignore list (command: /unblock {USERNAME}  or by clicking on the “unignore” option that substitutes the block button) – Feel like giving someone you blocked a second chance, or did you block someone by mistake?

Whatever the case may be, this command will allow you to see their comments once again.

6. 6. Disconnect from the chat server (command:  /disconnect) – This is one of those mod commands on Twitch that seems to serve a singular purpose (simply disconnecting you from the chat), but it much more than that.

If you ever notice abnormal functioning of your stream or if you suspect that malware/a hacker attack is taking place, immediately disconnecting is your best bet to minimize the potential damage. 

7. Send a private message to someone (command: /w {USERNAME} {MESSAGE})- Whoever has spent time on games that feature a chat bar (Starcraft, League of Legends, Dota)  is familiar with the “whisper” command.

This command allows you unhindered communication with anyone you like (as long as they didn’t block you) that cannot be subjected to moderation nor software intervention. This is one of the most subtle Twitch mod powers, as it is utilized by broadcasters for communicating with their mod teams as well as everyday users for discreet communication among themselves all the time.

 

2. Twitch commands reserved for regulating channel rules

Having a clean chat is essential as the consequences of loose regulation can be dire, from losing a large chunk of your following to Twitch personally intervening. And you can even use fun nightbot commands for such purpose. 

 

Whether you are having a troll invasion or a scuffle between two strangers in your chat, you and your delegated moderators can restore order in a couple of ways.

 

1) Access a user’s basic account information (command: /user {USERNAME} or by merely clicking on the desired username in the chat) – When you want to review basic information about an account or take preventive action, it’s never a bad idea to take a look what exactly they did do on your channel. This command gives you the entire chat-related history on your channel of a particular user, making it easy to find out if their actions warrant a warning or more severe penalties

 

2) Give someone a time out from the chat (command: /timeout {USERNAME} [SECONDS] or by clicking on the little clock symbol located near their badge)-  When you are in the driver’s seat, the level of control you have in a channel allows you handle problematic situations in a variety of ways and the most common one is giving someone a timeout

 

By default, when you click on someone’s clock icon, you will give them a 10-minute chat ban. They will automatically be informed of these actions. You can set additional (or less) time of the ban’s duration with the “seconds” value, allowing you to talk to them about their transgressions or to simply give them some time to cool off from a fiery argument.

 

The length of time that determines the duration is measured in seconds, which you will have to calculate before using this command if you want the duration to be precise. Here are a few examples of how the command functions;

 

Suppose at any moment you feel that the chat ban has served its purpose before the allocated period of time. In that case, you can withdraw your decision by putting in a different time value in the same command (for instance, 1 second) or by utilizing the “unban” command.

 

If you leave out the [SECONDS] attribute command, the default time value will be 10 minutes.

 

3) Banning an account from the stream (command:  /block {USERNAME} or by clicking on the ban icon near the profile’s badge) –  If someone on your stream has said or done something that crosses the line and goes against your channel’s code of conduct to such a degree that a ban is necessary, this command will allow you to remove them on the stop.

 

However, restricting access to your stream is not something that should be taken lightly, especially if you wish to expand on your popularity and shed a positive light on your channel’s reputation. There are a couple of guidelines you should follow before you consider banning someone on your channel;

 

 Make it clear what kind of offenses will get someone banned ON THE SPOT– Chat’s can get as crowded and intense as active comment sections on social media, but that does not mean that people can get away with whatever they want on your personal stream.

 

Usually, actions that are made with the intent of directly insulting another viewer, a member of your moderator team, or even you fall into bannable offenses. Still, even then, you might want to give the offenders a warning before “showing them the door. “

 

– Three strikes and you are out – An excellent way to stay consistent and enforce a sense of order is to create a system that you and your moderators will follow.

 

This way, you and your team are far less likely to be chastised for banning people on a subjective basis. Clear-cut and fair rules that apply to everyone equally will not only make the stream more professional but also allow the community to filter unwanted behavior alongside your team, doubling the positive effect!

 

4) Unban a banned account (command: /unban {USERNAME} or by clicking the unban icon, which replaces the ban command on the account you just banned – Permanent bans are bad for business, and most streamers and moderators on Twitch who use mod commands extensively are well aware of this fact.

 

However, you can go around the negative implications that banning enforces upon your viewers by creating a timespan for how long someone will be banned from entering your stream.

 

For instance, being profoundly vulgar for a prolonged period of time the first time around gets you a 15 day ban. If the previously banned individual again commits the same or different offense, you can prolong this ban period. Take into account what kind of audience you attract and implement the rules accordingly. 

The most crucial aspect of banning to remember is that permanent bans are reserved for only the most severe actions against you, Twitches policies, or other viewers. In most cases, temporary bans will suffice.

 

3. Twitch mod commands reserved for chat regulation

 

Moderator commands on Twitch are not only used for picking out the bad apples in your streams but also for giving you direct control over what is going on inside them, giving you unparalleled control over your channel. 

1. 1. Put a timespan between messages in your chat stream (command: /slow {SECONDS}) – Do you know those moments when you reach the heights of your plays and the crowd starts cheering your name as if you were the pinnacle of internet royalty?

 

It’s an amazingly unique and enjoyable feeling when you know your crowd loves you, but when you try to respond to a direct message or exceptionally high praise, it is gone in an instant! This is where the Slow command comes into play!

 

When the crowd gets wild at the wrong moment (or when you simply want to slow down the chat pace a bit), you can set the number of seconds that need to pass before another.  

 

P.S. If you are partnered up with Twitch, your subscribers can go around this command by accessing their subscription tab through the dashboard.

 

2. 2. Undo the slow command (command: /slowoff) – Want to fire up your audience and watch the cheers flow freely from your amazing plays? 

If so, all you have to do is undo the previous command and activate your charm!

3. The anti-spam command (command: /uniquechat) – If you ever found yourself in a crowded stream where people spam the same messages over and over again, you know full well how annoying and, sometimes, almost impossible it can be to put an end to it. 

In some cases, a bandwagon effect can occur, ruining your viewers’ experience due to the active spamming from a couple of users. But fear not, as this command alleviates most problems of such nature from occurring!

4. Clear up the pilled-up chat (command: /clear) – Being a popular streamer can be tiring, especially when your chatbox is overcrowded with messages of all kinds, and they keep on popping up!

The immense popularity of this command is contributed not only by the large number of messages sent in pretty much during every popular broadcast by users but also because of the frequent activities of sponsors and ad creators within the chat.

To counteract this, you and your mods can put a limit to how many messages have to be sent before clear mod commands are used.  As with any Twitch chat commands, always check all the information (in this case, if there is any unchecked message that might be important) before you use this command.

5. Spice up the chat by allowing only emotes to be used during the stream (command: /emoteonly) – the large assortment of unique emotes are one of the defining elements of Twitch that make it especially attractive for the younger crowd that often enjoys sending emotes as a way of expressing themselves instead of typing out long texts.

This command is quite popular among streamers who want to rack up a chat full of emotes in high-intensity games with very high uncertainty levels, which keeps the crowd (and the streamer) on their toes till the very end (it is also quite useful for stacking up bits).

6. Return the chat to its default text-free setting (command: /emoteonlyoff) – When the action tones down and you want to interact with your audience in detail, disabling the previous emote only chat command will return the chat to its original state.
7. Restrict access to followers (command: /followers + you can restrict access based on the time length of their status by adding timespans from 30 minutes – /followers 30m, to 3 months – /followers 3mo) – Want to prepare a special broadcast for only your followers? This Twitch mod command will allow you to do that.

The default command will allow you to restrict the chat to only your followers while adding a time value will further narrow down the list of available candidates who can enter the stream based on how long they have been a follower; these are the available values you can input; 

8. Disable the followers-only command (command: /followersoff) –When you feel it’s time to let in new followers into your broadcasts again, this mod command will return the settings back to default.
9. Restrict access to the chat room to only subscribers (command: /subscribers) –  Streamers with a loyal subscriber userbase will enjoy many benefits and encouragements that will not only increase their income (either through ads, merchandise, donations) but also push them forward towards the highly coveted partnership status!

To cement the appreciation that the streamer wishes to convey to his subscribers, it is always a good idea to create special streaming sessions reserved exclusively for your loyal viewer base. Loyalty and communication on Twitch is a two-way street, and your public image hinges on how well you interact with others.

This is also handy if you wish to get a “subscriber momentum”- if viewers and followers who had a great time on your channel so far notice that you are starting to host unique, subscriber-only streaming sessions, they might be enticed to join the fun as well! 

10. Revert back to default streaming (command: /subscriberoff) – While these sessions are a fantastic idea to give your subscribers some love, you can’t really attract a new following if only a select few can enter your stream!

When your subscriber’s only program reaches its end,  this mod command will enable those who are not among your subscriber base to enter your broadcasts.

 

4. Commands dedicated for commercial, hosting, and redirecting purposes

While some of the tools at your disposal can be used by members of your mod team or your audience, specific channel commands on this list are designed exclusively for advanced streamers who have been in the business for quite some time and are at least an affiliate, as some of these commands are only useful if you can have commercialized your channel.

1. 1. Give your viewers a commercial to watch during the stream’s duration (command: /commercial, add {30|60|90|120|150|180} if you want to extend the duration of the commercial command) –this is one of the main ways you can accumulate income once you reach an affiliate or partner status.

The default duration of commercials is 30 seconds. If you wish to prolong this duration to earn some more cash, you can set a timer for how long the ads will last. Another piece of good news is that you can sometimes choose the ads your viewers will come into contact with, minimizing negative backlash.

Sounds pretty fantastic, doesn’t it? Your biggest worry will most likely revolve around the reception of your audience, as ads often are annoying, so you should refrain from introducing them at the wrong moments, such as when the game was reaching its height or when you feel it would be a wrong move.

Once you start getting the hang of this command’s introduction interval (and the preferences of your viewers), you can customize the commercials your channel introduces to the user base and increase the intervals (as the ads will feel less annoying when they target the right interests of your audience). 

2.Host another channel in your streaming session (command: /host {channels}) – Did it ever cross your mind how cool it would be to let other affiliate channels enter your stream to double your content’s quality and help each other out? This is exactly what the /host command does!

Namely, it is no secret that streamers know that, sometimes, they can be in a tight spot when it comes to attracting new followings, especially for those who have just started out recently. Having two separate channels present within a single stream can raise popularity on both ends.

If you know that hosted channel’s full name, you can bring them right in and start hosting them in your channel within a matter of moments!

3. Revert the previous hosting command (command: /unhost, you can also add the specific name of the stream {channels} that you wish to be rid of unless you want the default effect, which is un-hosting all the channels you are currently hosting)- Sometimes, hosting different channels can be more trouble than it’s worth.

While it’s mostly true that you will most likely benefit from bringing in people that follow the hosted channel to your streams, it is also true that some of them might ruin the entire broadcast by being excessively rude, by spamming random messages (AKA trolling), or going so far as to invite a random assortment of bots into the chatroom! 

As a flooded chat with bots, trolls, and rude remarks sounds like something straight out of a horror movie for streamers who want to gain a steady following, mod commands on Twitch that can rever the effects made by previous commands are literally a godsend!

4. 4. Commence the raid! (command: /raid {channels}) – When you are just about to finish your broadcasting for the day, you might notice that a large number of your followers would hate to see their favorite streamer go away, as the fun (from the perspective of your most loyal subscribers and viewers) can appear too short in length. What’s the next best thing when such a situation occurs?

Sending them to your affiliate channels! This is not only a good idea in terms of establishing a practice of cross-channel follower swapping (which can bring both sides that much closer to reaching an affiliate or partnership status), but it is also great for keeping followers entertained – the fun never stops until they decide to call it a day!

The only factor that you should consider is if the owner of an affiliated channel finds the raid annoying or not, but, as added popularity never hurts a resourceful streamer, this will rarely be an issue.

5. Withdraw from the raid! (command: /unraid {channels}) –  Although it rarely occurs, it is still possible that a raid can go wrong (either due to a rough crowd or a lack of a good reception).

If you do feel that withdrawing your decision is a good idea, don’t fret! Sometimes streamers might not want to pile up their broadcast with many new faces, which is nothing you should worry about as the negative consequences can be avoided rather easily if things start going south.

6. Place a marker description whenever new followers enter your streaming session (command: /marker {description}) –How often do people on Twitch follow a new channel, enter a broadcast, and leave within a minute or two? The answer is- a lot.

Let’s take into account that the audience mostly consists of young folks with (usually) low attention spans and unwillingness to invest a substantial amount of time into investigating the content of each particular stream (as Twitch has thousands of options to choose from). 

It is easy to come to the conclusion that lightning-fast basic information that is compiled into a short text form is a must to keep the attention of such a demographic. This is where marker mod commands really shine as they can add a text description that pops up on your screen whenever a new follower enters a broadcast.

5. Exclusive broadcaster commands

And last but not least, these are the tools reserved only for streamers. They allow you to assign unique roles to different users, such as becoming moderators or VIPs on your channel.

1. Assign the role of a moderator to someone (command: /mod {USERNAME} – One can hardly keep track of all the activities that happen on the stream, and this is why delegating that responsibility to someone else is a must.

Before giving someone the status of a moderator, you should always take into consideration their participation within the channel, their willingness to take up the role, and if they are qualified or not (never mod a complete stranger).

2. Remove an active moderator from your channel’s list of moderators (command: /unmod {USERNAME}) – Is a moderator slacking off in their duties, or do you feel that they just aren’t cut out for the job?

Whatever the case, this command will resign them from their role.

3. Grant a user the status of a VIP (command: /vip  {USERNAME})- As mentioned before, VIP users are often one of the most recognizable and active people on and, as such, are granted a special place within the stream.

When you feel someone has consistently acted in such a way that has contributed to the channel far more than what would be generally expected from followers on your channel, this is a great way to show that you recognize their effort and give them a special place on the channel!

4. Take away the VIP status from someone on your channel (command: /unvip {USERNAME}) – Being a VIP on a channel is a status that is rarely given to someone, but sometimes even those who were previously deserving of such an honorific title might turn over a new leaf for the worst- and in those cases, you might be forced to take away their status.

By issuing the “unvip” command, you can revoke this privilege from those you believe are no longer deserving of it.