Chrome Extension for Lurkers

[yrk06]

I am developing a Chrome extension to add some tools for Lurkers. Many people reported back to me that this might be against TOS, so I’ve decided to reach out twitch support (with no success), then I’ve decided to ask here in the Developer Forums where I might have a definitive answer.

The extension has 2 features designed right now: A better volume control, which wouldn’t require the user to mute the tab (since people can watch multiple stream/co streams and they might want to lurk in one stream while watching another). The second feature is the one that might not be inside TOS, it is a known fact that when you raid another channel, this will add referrer=raid in the URL, and having that query parameter prevents your view to be counted in the Average Viewers, The problem is when you raid a channel you are already following and you watch, this would imply that you are watching a stream you like but without counting towards the growth, thus the second feature for the extension is to Auto remove referrer=raid from the URL only in channels that the user is already following prior to the raid.

I’d like to know if those 2 feature are in complience with the TOS or not, considering that they’ll be used by normal users (they are not intended for view botting, it’s a tool that would help me as a lurker a lot).

I’ve already read Developer agreement Comunity guidelines and Fake Engagement and I still have some doubts about this idea.

[BarryCarlyon]

@yrk06

The second feature is the one that might not be inside TOS, it is a known fact that when you raid another channel, this will add referrer=raid in the URL, and having that query parameter prevents your view to be counted in the Average Viewers, The problem is when you raid a channel you are already following and you watch, this would imply that you are watching a stream you like but without counting towards the growth, thus the second feature for the extension is to Auto remove referrer=raid from the URL only in channels that the user is already following prior to the raid.

Removing/reloading doesn’t do anything despite what the wider community thinks. Since Twitch doesn’t just use the query string parameter to determine if you came in on a raid, thats if they even do use that parameter for raid referrals.

@yrk06

The extension has 2 features designed right now: A better volume control, which wouldn’t require the user to mute the tab (since people can watch multiple stream/co streams and they might want to lurk in one stream while watching another).

This has diminishing returns, in limited testing a user only counts to 1/2 of the streams they have open on their computer.

So your Extension doesn’t really do anything to help anyone, except burn bandwidth/data on the end viewers computer. (Like how tabs will auto dequality when you unfocus them)

@yrk06

I’ve already read Developer agreement Comunity guidelines and Fake Engagement and I still have some doubts about this idea.

Legal advice might be better sought on legal@twitch.tv all you’ll get here is opinions

[yrk06]

@BarryCarlyon

This has diminishing returns, in limited testing a user only counts to 1/2 of the streams they have open on their computer.

So your Extension doesn’t really do anything to help anyone, except burn bandwidth/data on the end viewers computer. (Like how tabs will auto dequality when you unfocus them)

Still, there are viewers who enjoy watching multiple streams even if they are not counting towards the number (for example, 10 diferent streamers playing among us live at the same time), and they could use better volume control/mixer in order to watch all of them and balance them better