When someone is banned from Twitch, there needs to be a specific Twitch staff ID internally to help identify who issued the ban. If there is already a system in place, then when there are elevated concerns about the lack of absolute context, time, or statements made, the user SHOULD KNOW what it is.

Just a few days ago, I found out what “Hawk Touh” means, and it’s just one of the thousands of random memes like “bing ****” or “pushing p” that appear and fade out of context. I find these memes irritating and nonsensical. Thanks to hindsight, I understood why I was banned again (after a month prior having been banned for absolutely no reason). These memes, often used without context, can be easily misunderstood, leading to unjust bans.

The first time, it was for “Hateful Conduct.” Despite phone calls, emails, and attempted audits from third-party overseers, there was no update. The second time, due to the absurd nature of the ban on Twitch staff’s end, it was for “Unwarranted Sexual Advancements.” This time, I had logs. I sent them to the proper third-party auditors and included the Twitch staff CC in a more detailed follow-up email with far more context to the misguided ban. They responded on day 9 (the ban was only 7 days), stating they made a mistake and unbanned me, even though I was unbanned two days prior.

Accountability: Twitch staff need to be investigated when there is such a heinous claim. This should not HAVE to happen through third-party means, given the context of an “unwarranted sexual advance.” Discussing assets with a developer to the point where StreamElements guided me in the proper direction to acquire the assets in that channel should not result in a ban. I gave them the case number of the Hateful Conduct ban a month prior in their feedback form. I see nothing come of it, just more stories of past issues that have no relevance today.

This is an example of how terrible the system is. The lack of information in that Tweet by the disgruntled Twitch employee likely reflects the inadequacy of their internal system. This ambiguity in communication can cause unnecessary defense of inappropriate actions based on misunderstood contexts. The ambiguity IS THE ISSUE. The lack of evidence on Twitch staff’s end in my case is likely not reflective of the incident 4 years ago involving different staff. Today, it is NOT the case. There are no guidelines to hold accountability on Twitch for both the user and the staff.

The takeaway is, without third-party programs that allowed me to log MY OWN chat records, we can’t contextualize our own memes that are unknown to everyone. Since these bans were “repealed,” I have no idea if that means the “Hateful Conduct” or the proven out-of-context “Sexual Advancement.” Knowing that, I had the mods send me my logs when I was unbanned in May, the last thing I said was “DDT was banned in the 1980s, I thought?” So I provided an epa.gov link to the staff and still have heard nothing.

1.  Set up a system to find out how many strikes someone has for bans. I am assuming all of the bans were overturned but have ZERO way of knowing, as I only know they said “after looking into it” when I never stated anything about appealing the “Sexual Advancement” ban, since I found it imperative to understand the misuse of banning as I provided the evidence of what declared that ban and only provided the case number for the Hateful Conduct ban.
2.  Compensation when back-to-back bans were PROVEN to be a mistake.
3.  Third-party auditing that cannot be money-trailed (digital era is digital) to Twitch, involving no conflict of interest in the current matter on a case-by-case basis.
4.  The loss of privileges to any Twitch staff who has wrongfully banned someone for twice the duration of the ban inflicted on the individuals.
5.  Refocus the financials on other companies like Valve or just strictly leave Twitch to be linked as an option. The other opportunities for Prime Gaming are massive since 2014. Using Prime for other ventures has been profitable for Amazon, as stated. Twitch needs to refocus employee payments towards staff identified by the methods above and use their salaries to identify botnets, which are damaging ad revenue. Alternatively, develop an application that allows users to know what they said so it’s not “your word against something they can’t find since the account is nuked.”

The level on which Twitch operates now is embarrassing. The fact that you can have current Twitch staff hand out similarly worded ban reasons, “and making a mistake” ONLY when I could provide evidence, is something Amazon among other affiliates and partners KNOW has been the terrible standard for a minute.