Twitch, like many other online platforms, provides moderation tools for streamers to manage their communities and deal with unwanted behavior. One of these tools is the ability to ban users from a channel, preventing them from interacting in the chat or accessing certain features while logged in. However, the concept of an IP ban, as in blocking a specific IP address from accessing the platform, is generally not a feature available to individual streamers on Twitch. Source https://gwacalculator.ph/

"We don't currently plan to publicize the logic we use because we think it would make it easier for bad actors to bypass the restriction"

Dear me. Security through obscurity. Lovely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_through_obscurity#Criticism

Anyway, to all the people here complaining about their bad exes, stalkers and the like... contact the police or a lawyer, subpoena Twitch for the records of the user who has been harassing you. If they've ever spent money, this trail is the easiest to follow to their real identity.

IP bans don't work, and are merely useful as a stop gap measure to prevent large scale spam (what comes to mind is a user posting many links, many messages or sending messages, and we're talking thousands, in quick succession). The spammers aren't stupid, and insinuating that they don't know how to verify their messages were relayed is ridiculous. Lessons from email spam and gift card scams even tell us, that they intentionally design their spam messages in such a way that only the most gullible or the elderly would ever fall for them, because those kinds of people make the best victims.

The best way to deal with abusive trolls is to not let them get to you, and to not give them the attention they want. Take appropriate breaks. If what they are doing gets to you, you lose.

And for those among you who believe the ban function has been abused in a discriminatory manner or to harass you, report the channel and make your case. You will not be unbanned, but if the user who has banned you is indeed homophobic, transphobic, racist, or doing it for the sole purpose of harassing you, there will be some consequences for this. However, don't try to go back there and be hostile to them because of it, that is obviously also not okay.

Oh and those who think it’s ok to use mental health as an excuse for bad behaviour…stop it. If they really were that bad, they wouldn’t realise they were and definitely wouldn’t be be making excuses for it. A ban is supposed to be permanent, so Twitch should ensure this is the case.

IP bans for harassment is absolutely necessary. I’m glad that Twitch has decided to stop the harasser watching the stream as well. Until I got a restraining order against my ex, he would come back with a different account each time and within minutes! when I turned my chat to followers only he started private messaging new and regular viewers of my stream offering them photos of me etc. This was a long time ago and he has done a lot worse, even after he got the restraining order, it just became harder to prove it was him. Honestly harassment ruins lives so an IP ban is the LEAST that can be done to stop these lowlifes.

It’s a horrible thing to have to deal with as the victim. This imbecile still messes with my network and kicks me out of games etc bearing in mind he’s a grown man mad the restraining order does Jack **** to stop him doing stuff anonymously. He’s a nut job that the police have been useless in dealing with him. I don’t stream any more, but for all those folk (male and female) who have to deal with this behaviour every time they go live, push for an IP ban and if you have a rough idea of who they are, go the the police as well - Police have been **** for me after the restraining order but you need to let them know what’s happening, in case things get worse, plus they might be doing it to others as well.

If you can’t follow someone’s chat rules and they don’t want you to be there, maybe it’s time to realize that you messed up and move on. It’s not discrimination or discriminatory. There are plenty of mentally disabled people out there, who don’t get banned from chats.

Bro... Ban evasion is ban evasion. IDFC if you want to sit there and dance around to find excuses for someone’s behaviour. If you were told “we don’t want you here”, then please find yourself on the other side of the nearest exit. And stay there. Also, you trying to blame “mental illness” on someone being a trolly buttwipe is really not doing you any favours, as you’re arguing “they didn’t mean to shoot 300 kids, they were just having a bad mental health day”, and jogging right past the part where you are literally turning people with mental health complications into the villains in your story just so you can score points on the internet... It’s also gross, and you should probably rethink your stance on “crazy people can’t help themselves if they act crazy”.

ban evasion is ban evasion, regardless of the person doing it. if they were banned, they can appeal. disability has nothing to do with the situation, and yours is a non-argument

Okay I understand wanting to prevent harassment from trolls who come into streams to spam racial and homophobic slurs and that is one good thing that comes with an IP Ban, but banning someone for being mentally disabled just because they say inappropriate things during chat without realizing they are being inappropriate is literal discrimination especially if the streamer and other viewers say something that is worse than whatever the banned person said. Yet they are still around. Now we have the ridiculous thing were banned users cannot watch the livestreams by the streamer that banned them. Its garbage! Twitch is unfair to its users and something needs to change. I've reported the discriminatory Streamer for her behavior but she is still there! Something needs to be done about this or Twitch may have a downfall!

Okay I understand wanting to prevent harassment from trolls who come into streams to spam racial and homophobic slurs and that is one good thing that comes with an IP Ban, but banning someone for being mentally disabled just because they say inappropriate things during chat without realizing they are being inappropriate is literal discrimination especially if the streamer and other viewers say something that is worse than whatever the banned person said. Yet they are still around. Now we have the ridiculous thing where banned users cannot watch the livestreams by the streamer that banned them. Its garbage! Twitch is unfair to its users and something needs to change. I've reported the discriminatory Streamer for her behavior but she is still there! Something needs to be done about this or Twitch may have a downfall!

For your first case christy, are you saying that people who randomly get banned should be allowed ways of bypassing that ban? Simply because to you it appears like a random ban? What kind of reasoning is that?

And as for your second case, if you are talking about a streamer finding out a viewer is colored/homosexual, and then banning them for it, I don't know of anything in ToS that gives a list of things streamers are allowed to ban for or not. They can ban you for choosing a pink color for your name and they won't be in trouble for it.

So if streamers are allowed to ban people for any reason, why can't they be given tools to stop that person from watching/interacting with the stream? And considering 90% of bans happening on Twitch have very good reasons, I am unsure why you are rushing to defend the 10%.

And as a sort of *bump* to my earlier post, I reiterate that what is needed is not an IP ban system. We need GUID ban system. It is easy to change email addresses. It is easy to change your IP. What isn't easy to do is buy a new device, or spoof your GUID.

What about people who were banned by users for no reason? Or a user ban that was discriminatory against the viewer? That's the one reason the IP ban is stupid.

There are still many cases where a group of teenagers create accounts to virtually harass female streamers and IP blocking is ineffective. I'm a moderator for several female streamers and harassment is daily. The management of this platform is a disgrace.

Twitch dont care, this is from 2015 and still this is going on. And much more hate and harasments. So we need to report twitch so they finnaly listen.

Something has to be done, my girlfriend and a few other female streamers are getting harassed by a group of young adolescent boys. They create multiple account names that are sometimes racist or just general harassment. We need the tools to be able to protect the streamer and their communities.

I can agree with the ip ban because I have a stalker who keeps stalking me and spamming "Cringe" every single stream and it got me angry and banned him for cyberbullying and I am super upset he is still never banned on Twitch, especially without having any IP bans on him to stop him from using incognito mode to stalk me and even stalking my streamers who banned him while I have to be one to ban him on their channels and then my friends turned against me when they think I raided them while he is banned on my channel and starts abusing the avoidance of ban and joining raids even while being banned. This shouldn't be a thing.

this or hardware banning them

This is rll good idea Plz twich add this so next time the hater dont comeback

IP ban only Don`t work.
- VPNNord
- Other vps bypass lol.

Its work only in a way What connect Twitch. Exemple
Ban way
- Ip (oke) but vpn bypass all.
- Ban on Bios Dna Pc or smartphone wil help
- Ban om Mainboard DNS compinents elements all have a unique dna & serialnummbers.
- Ban Mails & Phone nr dont help create new one.

Hards way to ban so ash Kixeye games do
Bios dna mainboard dna include ip mails address, phone nr.

Wel for scammers , trolls ect wil het be a Expensive way to **** whit streamers and twitch. when dna system ban comming ;-) pay new pc or smartphone or psn or xbox ect. for trolling or try scam viewers and streamers. only this way wil win and ban ip or mail or phone nr wil not winning

Try two factor authentication. Implement it so that streamers can require it to chat in their channel or not. That will prevent hate raids by bot accounts. IP bans may not be completely effective because many people know how to use a VPN or change their IP address, but it will stop some of the teenagers who are just trolling for the "lulz".

IP bans are not effective.