Asmongold

Zack · @Asmongold

24th Jan 2017 from TwitLonger

My Thoughts on Robyn/Pooflower's most likely Permaban on Twitch


I was going to make this into a video for my second channel, but after re-reading the ToS and rules for the Creative section of Twitch I opted to just make a post instead.

Backstory: Robyn/Pooflower (@poowilde on Twitter) is a streamer who recently got her account actioned by Twitch (probably) because she did a performance in the Creative section of Twitch because the performance involved a prop knife and makeup that some people interpreted to be fake blood, although that was not the intent. There was no actual blood or sharp knives involved.

On Twitch, there are rules against body fluids being shown on stream and also against self-harm, neither of which were present during her stream that she got banned for. Her (and my until literally 10 minutes ago) understanding was that doing a form a performance art that didn't violate any of the core community guidelines was acceptable and as long as there were no baseline rules being broken, everything would be fine.

This was, unfortunately, not the case. After further research I found the Twitch Creative section ToS which explicitly said that Creative streams can't feature props that are weapons (https://help.twitch.tv/customer/portal/articles/2176641)

Ultimately, after reading all of the ToS and guideline articles, the only rule that was clearly broken was the rule about using fake props that resembled a weapon.

Because the knife was not meant to harm her or anyone else (it wouldn't be able to any more than a pencil or key would be able to, it was a prop knife) and was being used in good faith as a prop during a performance, I don't think it should be treated in the same way that an actual knife would be.

I feel like her account was actioned in the context of someone tuning in for a few minutes and seeing a crazy girl with a knife and not in the actual context of someone trying to have an over-the-top performance.

Although the performance did break the rules by using a prop weapon, it seems unfair that a mistake like that made in good faith should cost someone their entire channel.

In the past, Twitch has been very equitable with how they handle ToS violations and I hope that they will be in this circumstance as well. In the full context of what happened, a rule was still broken and a punishment is fair, we just hope that Twitch can see this as an honest mistake made in good faith and work towards a resolution less severe than a permanent ban.

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