Internet Harassment: Why Your Security Settings Need to Be Flexible
Online harassment doesn’t always happen on a predictable schedule.
That is one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from running an online community and building security systems around it.
You can spend a lot of time creating rules designed to protect your community, but there is one thing you cannot predict:
What is going to happen next.
I’ve experienced harassment online, and that changes the way you think about access to your community. When you’ve dealt with people creating problems, suddenly allowing every brand-new account to participate can become a very different decision.
Recently, I had my Twitch security settings configured so that people needed to have been members for three months before they could participate under certain conditions.
Then I received a raid.
The raid itself was completely fine.
But suddenly I had a situation where my existing security settings were too restrictive for the moment.
So I changed them.
Security Isn’t About One Perfect Setting
This is something I think creators sometimes get wrong.
There isn’t necessarily one perfect moderation setting that you turn on once and forget about forever.
Your community changes. Your audience changes. Your stream changes. Your circumstances change.
And your security settings should be able to change with them.
A three-month account requirement might make sense when you’re dealing with repeated harassment from new accounts.
During a raid, however, that same restriction might prevent legitimate new viewers from participating.
The important feature isn’t simply having a security setting.
The important feature is having control over that setting.
Online Harassment Is Bigger Than Twitch
Harassment isn’t just something that happens to streamers.
The Cyberbullying Research Center’s 2025 national survey of 3,466 U.S. students ages 13–17 found that 58% reported experiencing cyberbullying at some point in their lives, while 33% reported experiencing it within the previous 30 days.
The survey also found that:
- 32.5% reported being excluded from a text or group chat.
- 31.6% reported mean or hurtful comments being posted online.
- 31.3% reported being embarrassed or humiliated online.
- 29.2% reported rumors being spread online.
These numbers demonstrate why online safety tools matter. Harassment doesn’t necessarily look like one person repeatedly attacking another person. It can be exclusion, humiliation, coordinated behavior, spam, insults, rumors, or simply disrupting a community.
For creators, that means moderation isn’t just about deleting bad messages.
It’s about controlling the environment in which your community operates.
Twitch Has Tools for This
Twitch provides streamers with a collection of moderation and safety tools that can be adjusted depending on what’s happening in the channel.
Some of the most useful tools include:
- AutoMod — helps identify potentially inappropriate messages and holds them for moderator review.
- Slow mode — limits how frequently viewers can send messages.
- Follower-only chat — requires viewers to follow the channel before participating.
- Subscriber-only chat — restricts participation to subscribers.
- Chat verification — allows streamers to establish requirements for who can participate in chat.
- Timeouts and bans — allow moderators to respond directly to disruptive users.
- Moderators — trusted members of the community can help manage chat in real time.
Twitch also provides documentation specifically addressing harassment and channel moderation.
Useful Twitch resources:
The Ability to Change Settings Quickly Matters
This is where flexibility becomes extremely important.
Imagine you’re streaming normally. Everything is calm. Your usual moderation settings work perfectly.
Then something changes.
Maybe someone starts harassing you.
Maybe a group of suspicious accounts suddenly appears.
Maybe you’re being targeted by spam.
Or maybe a large number of new people suddenly arrive because another streamer sends a raid.
You don’t necessarily want the same security configuration for every one of those situations.
Good security isn’t just about preventing access. It’s about controlling access.
Don’t Let Harassment Force You Offline
One of the worst outcomes of online harassment is when the person being harassed feels like they have to leave the platform.
That shouldn’t be the only option.
If someone is abusing your community, you should be able to tighten your controls.
If things calm down, you should be able to loosen them.
If you’re expecting a large influx of viewers, you should be able to adjust your settings again.
That is the difference between a rigid security system and a flexible one.
Think in Security Modes
One way I think about moderation is in layers.
NORMAL MODE
Use the settings that provide a good experience for your regular community.
INCREASED SECURITY
If harassment or suspicious activity starts, tighten chat restrictions and require more account history or community participation.
HIGH ALERT
If the situation becomes disruptive, use stronger restrictions such as subscriber-only, follower-only, slow mode, emote-only chat, or temporarily shutting down chat.
RETURN TO NORMAL
Once the situation is under control, loosen the restrictions again when appropriate.
The goal isn’t to permanently lock down your community.
The goal is to have enough control that you decide when the doors open and how open they are.
Your Community Shouldn’t Have to Choose Between Safety and Growth
There is always a balance between security and accessibility.
If you make your community too restrictive, new people may never get a chance to participate.
If you make it completely open, bad actors may have an easier time disrupting your stream.
That’s why flexibility matters.
A streamer shouldn’t have to choose between being protected and welcoming new viewers.
You should be able to change the rules depending on what’s happening right now.
What My Raid Taught Me
The interesting part of my experience wasn’t that I got raided.
The raid was fine.
The interesting part was realizing how quickly the situation could change.
I had tightened my security because I’d experienced harassment before. Then I had a legitimate reason to open things up again.
That meant I needed something more important than a security rule.
I needed control over the security rule.
And that is an important distinction.
Security Isn’t Static
Whether you’re running a Twitch channel, a Discord community, a WordPress website, or your own online platform, the same principle applies.
Security should be something you can adjust as conditions change.
Don’t simply ask:
“What security setting should I use?”
Ask:
“What settings do I need right now, and how quickly can I change them if something happens?”
That’s a much better security question.
The Internet Changes. Your Security Should Too.
Harassment is unfortunately part of the online environment for many creators.
But that doesn’t mean you have to give up control of your community.
Learn the moderation tools available to you.
Understand what each setting actually does.
Know how to increase restrictions when something goes wrong.
And just as importantly, know how to reduce those restrictions when the situation improves.
Security isn’t about building a wall and never opening the door.
It’s about having the ability to decide when the door opens, who gets through it, and how quickly you can close it when necessary.
Stay safe. Stay flexible. Keep control of your community.
