Facebook Gaming unveils tools for streamers to fight online trolls

Making streaming more enjoyable for everyone By David Matthews

Cutting corners: Watching streamers can be fun except when internet trolls try to disrupt the fun. Facebook is trying to give video creators more power to enforce community standards to make watching a little more bearable for most people. Tools include the ability set up rules ahead of time that viewers must accept before posting. Violators can be muted or banned while given notice as to why they were banned.

Those who have spent any time in Twitch streams or even YouTube comments know how toxic some communities can be. Facebook is hoping to combat trolls by empowering streamers with tools to enforce community rules. The social media giant partnered with the Fair Play Alliance to set rules and guidelines that streamers can use.
The tools include a dashboard that features a 'Chat Rules' button which will allow streamers to access the chat rules, make them more visible, and provide a baseline of eight rules to start with. Facebook says those will expand and update based on the feedback it gets from content creators. The feature will roll out to a limited set of users first before it's available to everyone in the coming months. The rules include:

• Be accepting: Everyone is welcome, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or ability.
• Respect boundaries: Don't make advances or comments on appearance that might make someone uncomfortable.
• Don't criticize: We all have different styles -- don't judge someone's gameplay or game choice.
• Don't be rude: Don't intentionally provoke, threaten or insult anyone. We're all here to have fun.
• Don't flood the chat: Keep the conversation going, but don't repeatedly send the same comments
• Don't self promote: We're not here for a sales pitch. Stay focused on the stream
• Keep it clean: If it's shocking, obscene, vulgar or inflammatory, leave it out.
• No profanity

Content creators can create custom descriptions to show along the guidelines for participating in the chat. Viewers will have to accept the rules before they can leave a comment. However, if someone breaks the rules, creators can immediately remove the person along with all of their comments. Additionally, moderators can give feedback to the banned person about which rules were violated.
There is also a new moderation dashboard that helps mods remove harmful comments, mute trouble-making viewers for a short time or just outright ban them. Banned viewers will still be able to watch the stream but will be unable to comment or react.

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