u/Late-Career-7422

As a new user on Twitch and a small streamer, I've noticed that a lot of streamers are really focused on making their streams look professional.

They talk a lot about things like improving alerts, creating nice "just chatting" scenes, and adding intro animations, which definitely grabs people’s attention.

I've also spent my time making my stream look better. searching for panels, tags, titles, timers, how ads work, and setting up bots and alerts. But lately, I've been wondering why I'm putting so much energy into the look of my stream while kind of ignoring my own development as a streamer and the actual content I share during my streams.
I find myself getting caught up in the visuals and forgetting that I need to work on myself as an entertainer.

One of the main issues I'd say I have is my language. I'm not a native English speaker, and I curse quite a lot. words like 'f*cking', 'b*tch', and a bunch of other different sexual words. I'm 100% a 18+ streamer. Most of the time, I don't mean those words in a sexual way, but as in exaggeration to say 'fucking' instead of 'very'... and so on
As a viewer myself, I don't really mind casual swearing if it is not targeted and has details. I don't know how to express it lol, but if it gets excessive or gross, I feel disgusted, and I just leave the stream.

So, I'm here wondering, mainly asking viewers. What do you like as a viewer?
- a streamer that curses a lot.
- streamer that does cures, but often.
- a 100% friendly streamer. with 0 curses.
Or what do you think about this whole thing yourself as a streamer?

(I'm not sure if this is the right way to ask my question or what I meant exactly, because after all. If you don't like the streamer or the words he does say, we usually just leave. But I'm genuinely asking for myself to be better.)

I'm asking this because I'm unsure of the right way to phrase it, and I don't want to harm the community by using a term that may not belong to me. So please bear with me.

I have been hard of hearing for as long as I can remember. Communicating has always been a challenge for me; I often stared at people and struggled to respond since childhood.
I never learned much in school and had 0 idea of what my teachers were saying. I completed 12y of schooling and 3y of university through self-study, without any help from anyone. Most people thought I was just "stupid," especially since I live in a developing country and a small town. (not an English speaker)

7y to 13y, I thought I was normal and believed that it was their problem and not mine. I couldn't hear them. I found myself in many confusing situations, and for so many times I've lectured about "not speaking loudly enough" for me to hear, which always left me even more confused about why I was being criticized like that. I was always mad.

At 14, my hearing worsened; I realized I couldn’t hear anything unless someone spoke loudly. At that point, I realized that I may be hard of hearing, ''like come on, there is no way I'm that stupid'' but I didn't like it, so I never admitted it to anyone. Even my family disliked the idea and would, alwyas, tell me to stop calling myself that because they believed I wasn’t. Despite my struggles with communication and understanding in school, I remained convinced that it was everyone else's problem.

14y to 19y, I came from a family that wasn’t wealthy or highly educated, so we ignored the issue, which continued to worsen over time. And for the first time, we sought help, and obviously not out of acceptance of my hearing loss but because of ''blood'' ''super loud tinnitus''..etc, etc. that I couldn't bear anymore. After many doctor visits, we learned that I had suffered from childhood ear infections, which caused my progressive hearing loss. We were offered a solution, but my family was scared by the risks(they asked us to sign on something) and the costs involved, so we hesitated. they told me, "You can still hear; it's fine. we just need to talk louder. We don't need to waste money and risk your life on this." So, we chose to ignore it. with time, I got used to the crazy tinnitus, and I did ignore it myself.

20y to 23y, I'm even super hard of hearing now. I can only hold conversations under certain conditions:

1. must be within 2 meters of me.
2. speak loudly and actually loudly (repeating often does not help)
3. Their voice must be familiar to my ears.
4. Don't be a stranger.

If these conditions aren’t met, I won’t hear anything. Even if I do, it feels as if I'm listening to someone speaking from a distance, and I often have no idea what is being said.

Despite not having irl communications, I've learned a new way to connect with others. and yes. it is online, which has become my only source of fun. and because of it, I learnt new languages. (I was using text chats)

Back then, I tried using Discord, but I couldn't hear people unless they had good microphones and loud voices. My equipment wasn't great. but now, it is different. I have a really good headset and I use three equalizers along with live captions to hear and hang out with friends. However, I can only stay online for about six hours before the sounds start to hurt my ears. Still, it has been working for me, and for the first time, I’ve had fun without anyone accusing me of anything or making fun of me. I feel normal in the online world.

This year, for the first time, I took actions regarding my hearing issues. I've undergone two surgeries. tympanoplasty type II. I’ve shared my progress in a Discord server. I completed one surgery four months ago and am currently in recovery from the second one. (7 days to remove the stent)

Sadly enough, it is already too late for my hearing to improve. The infection has taken everything, and I've been told it’s a miracle I can still hear now, given my situation.

Now, I am very hard of hearing in real life and can only communicate under certain conditions. (I haven’t talked to anyone other than my parents for the past year). However, in online, I’m someone people wouldn’t typically assume is deaf unless they have a poor microphone.

A year ago, I began streaming for fun. I can’t use a headset due to my surgeries. Sitting and listening to my tinnitus was boring, so I decided to stream, as it’s an activity that doesn’t rely heavily on my hearing. I started identifying as deaf in my "About Me" section and began using the "deaf" tag on Twitch. But whenever someone enters my chat and hears me speaking normally, they accuse me of lying about my deafness. They say, "Deaf people aren't supposed to be able to talk normally," and since I don’t know sign language, they conclude that I can’t be deaf.

They accuse me of being a liar, claiming that I shouldn't have a normal voice since I'm deaf.

And I don't know sign language.

Plus. Sometimes, when I'm hanging out with friends online and using equalizers, they say, “You’re a liar! You can hear them; you’re not deaf, so stop lying.”

I'm following a doctor rn, and I'm preparing to have my first hearing aids soon after I recover from my surgery.

based on those infos, am I allowed to call myself a deaf person or not? I’m genuinely asking.

(Note: I play games on mute and when I use equalizers, the sounds' vibration changes, and most hearing people find it a bit annoying.)

I log in to Twitch, the first thing I see is my ''people'' live streaming, I dislike it. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against my people or the region I live in, but the fact that I'm forced to watch those streamers and only the one that speaks my language is something I'm not into. I don't find it entertaining, and I like foreign content more.

I used to NOT have problems with that, and actually find it useful. I used to be a streamer who streams in my native language. I had a pretty decent audience and was well known in my region. But because of the bad experiences with my people, I just gave up on them, and I stopped streaming. I removed and unfollowed everyone. Since then, I have had a big privacy concern.

I started streaming over again, but this time in English and only English. Now it’s really scaring me. Sometimes I think: what if I become a bit famous? Will Twitch put me back in that “local” section and force my people to watch me? Am I going to be easily discoverable if I try to grow?

I don't even post on other platforms because of that concern. I'm afraid people would find me based on my accent and the way I look.

I'm not sure if I'm just overthinking myself, as I'm always being watched, but I can't fully be myself whenever I think about that.

Q/ How exactly do Twitch algorithms work regarding location and recommendations?
And how to target Foreign audiences?

You can add up to 10 tags. It takes a couple of steps to use the feature.

You can get creative with them. In different languages, you could use something like "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" as a tag and still find others using it, as well as 'feet', 'gooner', 'raigebaiters'... etc.

(I've noticed non-English streamers still use English tags as a main thingy, although they know nothing in English)

The way tags work is different on different platforms.

There are limits on some platforms that, for example, only let you use 2 tags for the most discovery, otherwise the algorithm would bury you. Some who like more tags.

For Twitch, it is a bit different? A logarithm doesn't work on tags? Am I mistaking something? They are just ''tags'' without any hidden power like other platforms have.

Do tags actually help a channel grow as they do on other social media? Are there limits, really?

I’ve noticed that a lot of big streamers just stick to "English" as their tag and that's it. Some even go with funny tags that don’t really mean anything. Meanwhile, smaller streamers are tagging themselves with official and popular terms that tons of others are using too.

And they get no clicks.

Are those smaller streamers getting lost in the mix because everyone uses the same tags? Or they actually get clicks, but since most of the time, the streamer is focused on their thing, and because of the late response of Twitch, they are not noticeable.

Q/ Tags or without? And what are the most controversial tags ever.

Q/ Do you really need to use certain tags that describe you? Usually, this doesn't work unless you are part of significant communities, like tags such as 'gay', 'asmr', or 'coding'.

I'm genuinely asking.