Please do not remove the ability to cheer anonymously
Today (Oct 24, 2022) Anon cheering seems to have been disabled for some reason. Please do not remove the ability to cheer Anonymously.
Some of us like to donate bits and don't want to be "recognized" for it. Removing the ability to cheer anonymously will just make us not cheer at all.
If this was somehow something streamers were asking for, then make it a per-stream setting a streamer can toggle (but default ON).


Hey all! Thanks for this thread. We recently deprecated anonymous Cheering after we discovered it was being abused. While we understand some viewers prefer not being recognized for Cheering, we made this change to ensure a safer experience for those who were negatively impacted.
We’ve also heard your concerns on what this means for the future of Bits. This deprecation is not related to any plans to limit Cheering with Bits on Twitch, and is solely focused on providing a safer experience for our community.
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TAMASHlI commented
@Twitch I need this feature back, please restore anonymous cheering.
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xzibiting commented
The fact that you can still gift anonymously makes the fact that they disabled this even more odd
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dadsinbad commented
@Twitch how does this prevent abuse?? your reasoning makes no sense. Bring it back already for Christ's sake. I had to delete my old account because of beggars following me everywhere on the internet since I started giving bits to my favorite streamer. I hate you so much for removing this.
You're afraid of spam? set a mandatory delay between anonymous bits or create a hidden unique hash/ID for bit givers that allows the streamer to block a bit giver without seeing who they are. If your devs don't know how to do it then hire a **** freelancer to do their job in their stead.
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vrgamer4life commented
By forcing users to be public with bit donations, you put them at risk for harassment and begging from other users. Its quite the opposite impact then what you claim it is.
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aaira0 commented
I have stopped cheering for many channels since this feature was removed.
This should've been a toggle per channel instead of blanket deprecation.
Anyway, anonymous cheering did not allow attaching any message that could lead to abuse.
In the end this just hurts content creators and ultimately Twitch itself. -
hackerling commented
This should be a toggle that streamers can decide for themselves to turn on or off. While it's understandable that some users do not feel comfortable with anonymous bit donations, there's plenty of people (including myself) with audience members who vastly preferred the anonymous support option, and they're all good faith users. Twitch can still keep track of anonymous donations on their end without us ever knowing who it was, but removing it outright is not the best answer for protecting people.
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ultramarsx commented
Agree with other people who say this should be a toggle option. If a streamer feels uncomfortable they should have the ability to disable anonymous cheering, but if this isn't an issue for others then they should have the ability to keep it on. This directly hurts streamers and viewers who wish to contribute without direct acknowledgement, and the toggle would be a way to make everyone happy.
Also, if this is a situation due to anonymous cheering being abused, along with a TOGGLE, perhaps a Twitch-side cheering log or bit report system? Not sure how it would work but trying to find something that meets common ground would be nice for the community.
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PirateSoftware commented
Removing this feature while saying it somehow protects the community makes no sense. Anonymous bits did not allow a message, name, or image to be sent with the donation. In terms of frequency a streamer can already set minimum bits thresholds for bits donations and alert thresholds for bit donations. With this in mind this feature cannot be used to harass a streamer in any way.
At the same time you've left in Anonymous subs which actually display the giftee account name. This means an anonymous user can gift to an offensively named account and it displays in both chat and on stream.
If you are trying to remove "abuse" you've got it entirely backwards and all you've done is hurt our monetization options.
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LacrimaMundi commented
Give streamers the option to opt out if they feel the need to, but make it so they're also free to re-enable it, don't make it a one time on-off thing.
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FabsPlays commented
If we can create options to customize raids, why not create options to customize bits? Give streamers the power to customize their community interactions.
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maxterjuan_ commented
Make it a configurable choice then to allow anonymous bits or not.
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Celina commented
Please make this a toggle. Give creators the power and choice to either have anonymous cheering on or off. This decision is hurting us. If it's due to abuse, then will this eventually extend to removing the ability to gift subs anonymously as well? Please reconsider. There are plenty of people who don't want recognition for their generosity. Let creators decide how they want to run their broadcasts.
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LadyAmelthea commented
This should be a toggled feature for streamers. While it's wonderful that Twitch is trying to keep creators safe, a lot of creators depend on the anon bits (and subs). We should not punish everyone for the poor actions of a few.
The better option is to make this optional for a streamer, much like the raid function.
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KCisSICKnasty commented
If you don’t want people to abuse the 3 instance trigger for hype trains, just don’t allow anonymous cheering to count towards that. That’s the only way I can see it being abused. Stop deleting things you don’t feel like fixing.
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Moxiety commented
Please restore anonymous cheering and address the issue with an option for streamers to accept or refuse them. If we can filter who can chat by hundreds of potential combinations of settings, a simple yes/no slider to permit anonymous cheers is obviously the answer here.
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kaiielle commented
Could you please make anonymous cheering a feature that can be enabled and disabled on a per streamer basis? There are many folks who have loyal community members who like to cheer anonymously once in a while to avoid having pressure on them from the rest of the community, or even the streamer (some people just don't want to be thanked). Meanwhile, the streamers who have been harrassed by anonymous cheering can disable it and feel much more safe in their streams. It doesn't make sense to keep the ability to gift subs anonymously, but not have it for bits.
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techygrrrl commented
Please restore anonymous cheering.
Many viewers prefer to cheer anonymously. Anonymous cheerers are in my top 10 for overall support from cheers. I'm not happy about this change.
Streamers can already prevent abuse by:
a) disabling sound and TTS alerts
b) setting a minimum bits amount at the cheermote or message levelAnonymous cheers don't even include messages and it's just the anonymous username that's used (unlike follow-bots which often include offensive usernames with slurs).
Alternatively, Twitch can build a configuration feature into the product, allowing streamers to opt-in to disabling anonymous cheers in their channel. This would be much better than disabling it for everyone.
Please restore anonymous cheering.
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SeryCodes commented
Make it a configurable choice then to allow anonymous bits or not.
And be more open about your plans to deprecate bits or not. That sentence just added more fire to the rumor mill.
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Menace2Tacos commented
I’m interested to know how someone can abuse this feature?
Also, removing a feature instead of “fixing” the issue isn’t the solution. If it has a weakness fix it. Or like many have said. Give us the option to use it or not. -
KwispyLiz commented
Yeah no that answer ain't it. Removing a service for all when some are affected shouldn't be the jerk reaction. Instead; allow streamers to opt in or opt out of anonymous cheering.