New Twitch Rules Would Have Told Us Why Dr Disrespect Was Banned
In 2020, Twitch banned Dr Disrespect from its platform, left many fans confused as to what the Doc did to violate Twitch's rules. For his part, Disrespect stayed silent on the cause of the ban, but eventually broke his silence to explain that even he didn't know why Twitch gave him the boot. The mystery continues to infuriate fans of the Doc to this day, bringing attention to Twitch's shady side. After pushback from viewers and streamers alike, Twitch has finally introduced a new rule that might have helped avoid all the Dr Disrespect speculation in the first place.
On August 9, Twitch Support tweeted, "As of today, enforcement notifications sent to suspended users will include the name of the content and the date of the violation to ensure they have better clarity about what content is being actioned on." In other words, Twitch will actually make more of an effort to explain why it suspends users and point them to when the infraction occurred.
Many streamers and other Twitch users sounded off in response to the tweet, begging Twitch to explain their own bans to them or reverse decisions it made in the past. Twitch Partner Veronica Jae commented that sending specific clips of the offending incident to users would help them know how to avoid ban-worthy content in the future. Some called for the addition of a review button that would allow streamers to appeal Twitch's decisions directly, noting that telling users why they were banned is the "bare minimum."
However, fans weren't just concerned with old bans; they also had comments on Twitch's larger policies.
Double standards and full pockets
Some argued that Twitch needed to retroactively tell streamers why they'd been banned before the new rule was implemented. Streamer AustralianBl00d had a few choice words for Twitch, telling the platform, "It really feels like you don't care about your users and only care about the $ in your pockets." AustralianBl00d then went on to say that streamers who choose to leave Twitch in favor of YouTube streaming services or Facebook Gaming do so because of Twitch's poor customer service. Others noted that this service should have been implemented from the beginning, avoiding countless bans in the process.
Of course, some viewers brought up the alleged double standards of Twitch. Streamers like Jon Zherka may receive 3-month bans due to a mistake on Twitch's part, while content creators like Indiefoxx seem to only endure true consequences after multiple brief bans. Zherka's accidental ban highlights the imperfections in Twitch's monitoring software and calls attention to other issues the company may address in the future.
It's unclear how Twitch's new rule will affect streamers moving forward, but many users commented that the move was a step in the right direction — even if it was overdue. Viewers may never know why Dr Disrespect was banned from Twitch, but future banned streamers now have a shot at identifying where they went wrong.