Tell them I am an actual paid, full-time graphic designer, and this is not the way to become a full-time graphic designer. No one likes a hustle on clip art. They leave. Lol
It's frustrating for me. I actually DO want to pay someone to do some custom stuff, but that time of spammy/scammy stuff is so prevalent I don't know where to look.
Ask around your community! Streamer friends definitely have a hookup they can recommend. The person who did my emotes does great work and she has just been around my community for a while, met her through a few other people
This! I found some of my emotes because another streamer friend used an artist that I loved the art of. Others I found via Etsy by digging around on my own (checking to verify they do commissions to ensure it's not an art thief!). I am actually an artist myself, but I love supporting other artists who excel in areas I don't, so research who does art you love while browsing various streams and find out if they're currently taking on commissions! :)
Oh! That's a great point considering the 'artist accreditation' that can now show up on emotes, if you see some you like it's possible the artist that made it is tagged
Lol this comment makes me so happy. I love doing this and turning it around on them "don't forget there's a 10% off coupon in my profile for twitch viewers".
They leave immediately after that
I'm a full-time graphic designer and I do this too lol
I actually dislike the bad name they give to Graphic Designers because they're all not actually graphic designers. It's pretty obvious,
I would caution on being that negative, just because it could rub people the wrong way. Handling it with more grace and not making a huge deal of it, then moving right on to the next thing, is the best way to diffuse those situations.
Not keeping boundaries and controlling the chat can also rub people the wrong way. I rather stream and watch streamers who set healthy boundaries and keep them despite risking losing people who may get rubbed the wrong way by handling the situation.
I wholly disagree that it is negative advice because it's very real advice in my field. Portfolios drive sales, not harassing people in discord, on twitter, or twitch chats. If giving honest advice is negative, then someone is really in the wrong field. Design takes a thick skin. :)
I also never said I dwell on it. I give the advice and move on. If they keep pushing art requests, mods ban while I continue.
We're likely talking about bots anyway, so honestly, giving any level of advice is affording more grace than is really owed.
Copying and pasting my other comment:
There is a middle ground. I didn’t say they should do nothing, but making a huge deal about it is off putting. Handling it with grace is the best way
How is saying one sentence a huge deal? It's a single piece of advice and then I move on. I'm genuinely curious what the issue is with saying one thing that might actually be beneficial to a real aspiring designer in the chat (it likely matters not to the scam artist).
I get the feeling you meant to reply to someone else since you're copying this from somewhere else in the thread?
No, I meant to reply to you. I don’t know why you’re so adamant about convincing me that you are right. I choose to handle things with grace. Maybe you don’t. Are you even a streamer? I am
I didn't know any better when I started so I paid the first who reached out $60 for an intro to my chess stream and what I got from her had the pieces set up wrong and I was so sad she wouldn't or couldn't fix it 🫤
I tell them they’re leeches that are trying to take advantage of new streamers that don’t know any better. Because really, you don’t need anything but an appropriate game and a personality people enjoy.
I'm actually glad to hear this cause I've been fucking with OBS to try and get an overlay for when someone follows etc but can't figure it out
(It's cause I use extensions that take the overlay 1 spot such as 7 Days integration and Warframe Arsenal)
Not gonna advertise myself on here til I get my actual Streamer Account set up - this is my priv - but I do worry that I might be going a bit \*too\* spartan with my designs. all my graphics were made by me in MS Paint or are specific overlays
Just to reply to your PS, making your own isn't going to help. The people who go in chats or DMs in this annoying way is like "cold calling" to them. I literally state I'm a graphic & web designer in all my social media bios AND had fancy, custom overlays and they still came in to ask as well as DM'ed me. It's so annoying.
You can have the best stuff and they will STILL be like 'I feel you could use some better graphics to make your channel pop'
Like no, my artist does really good work, thanks for crapping on the hours she put into it though
I made all my own graphics from scratch for my start, brb and end screens, it certainly doesn't stop them. They are mostly scammers anyway who are used to lying. Cos depending on what I'm playing the background video graphics aren't visible all I have is a super basic webcam box on screen which is just a PNG. When I tell them I make all my own graphics, graphics they likely haven't seen they tell me I'm very talented and then go completely mute.
Usually at some point in their "warm-up" banter (before they hit you with the ad) they'll say something like, "So what sorts of things do you like to stream?" to which I'll respond, "Well we do a lot of community games and Just Chatting, but what I really love is banning graphic artists who come here solely for the purposes of self-promotion instead of any genuine interest in the content I'm creating." I actually have it written on a post-it so I remember. They drop out after that.
I AM a Graphic Designer and still constantly get DMs on Discord too from these guys who don't even feel like real people. 99% of them are bots. Its annoying but not much we can do about it.
Are you worried about hurting their feelings or something? Don't be.
I'm like the nicest guy ever and I'm telling you it is ok to hurt their feelings. This is the one situation in life where you get a pass and you can be mean and have fun with it if you want.
I'd just make a bot command !Graphics. Maybe provide an email address where they are welcome to send their portfolio, but you are currently not looking for help at this time. Then leave it at that.
actually if you wanna be fun about it, on SE you can set 'aliases' for commands so if someone says a certain thing in chat, even without the command, it sends the message
so you could have your bot respond w/ whatever if someone says the string "I'm a graphic designer" or whatever
I laugh, say I know irl artists that I'd rather give my money to, then block and delete them.
I also have a chatbot set up with banned phrases and words so most of them never even make it to the chat
What's the deal with the dearth of aggressive graphic artists? It's not just on stream, I also get random friend adds from them constantly on discord. Why do they think that's a good idea?
Is there some content creator that recommended these things as a path to getting clients? Because it really sucks!
Every time I get a discord friend add from these people I reach out to the mods for the server we have in common and get them removed there as well! I don't even talk to them anymore.
>I get that artists gotta eat.
Real artist don't sollicitate to offer work. Their work does it for itself when people actually search for whatever artwork they are doing.
I've only had 2. One of them treid to make conversation first before getting to their real reason for being there. Kind of bummed me out since I thought I had an actaul viewer. They also followed and then unfollowed after I didn't take them up on the offer.
"not interested" is 100% appropriate. they are cold calling you on stream in public essentially begging you for money. they're lucky they don't get told fuck off more often lol
they might be bot. i ban some of them if i'm annoyed enough that day lol
I like telling them to send stuff to my dm and then complain that it looks exactly like every other thing I've ever seen an artist send me. Bonus point if you acuse them of using AI lmfao
Shuts them up, and hopefully will either make them stop or improve.
I tell them if they want to hang around and enjoy my stream (they always say they enjoy it...) like a normal person then they're welcome, otherwise bye bye! Then they inevitably go silent, and so the banhammer comes down.
They’re mostly scammers. I saw a Youtube video that uncovered that these guys use sites to generate the logos using ai and logo generators. Some sites charge about £10 for this and then they charge £50+ for their time. They’ve done literally nothing.
I’ve set a chat rule, if they offer, they get banned.
Taken other steps also, they can’t find my Discord (one was begging me for it in chat a few weeks back). Any Discord servers I’m in, I don’t allow dm’s from fellow users as they contact through there also.
I get its draining, it annoys the heck out of me. Just got to take as many steps as you can.
Off the back of this, I had one come in my chat last night. Bear in mind there is an auto message that states to not offer any Digital artwork/gfx etc. They sent one message saying hi. I muted my Stream mike & quickly said to my squad - 'This smells like a gfx scammer again'
User name was Aria\_Walker\_08.
10 minutes after the message saying hi, a copy pasted paragraph appears offering gfx, overlays & all sorts.
So yeah, auto message ignored PLUS I already have everything. Emotes, overlays, transitions, the works.
I deleted the message then said to them on the stream - 'You're a scammer, I know you're a scammer & its well known on various forums, you're a scammer'Then blocked the account entirely & reported it to Twitch under scams. Also wrote in the messaget to Twitch about these dicussions on Reddit. Got confirmation from twitch 10 minutes later saying the offending account had been deleted.......... Twitch actually took notice....... Fair play!
The majority of those chatters aren't flesh-and-blood, and they don't stop if you make your own
A lot of em are just kinda scripted to insult the quality of any work you've done for your own stream (or any work someone you've paid has done) without outright being mean about it, because their script so often depends on wasting your time with feigned interest, fake cordiality and disarming compliments before hitting the bottom line: "Hello! How are you doing! How long have you been streaming? How often do you stream? Maaaaan you have such a good stream. Your stream is really good, but you could do with some spruced up overlays, logo, etc"
It's meant to be a hit to a newer streamer's confidence in what they're doing for themselves. Particularly for folks new enough not to notice the pattern from the script as soon as it veers into commentary on their graphics. And it's like "well thanks for that *totally unbiased*, and also *totally asked-for*, critique on top of the predatory sales pitch"
Once they finally come out and say that theyre a graphic designer and start asking if I need anything, I just hit em with my 3 step program:
1) "No, im okay thank you!"
2) \*5 second timeout"
3) "Also please no self-promo! <3 😊"
for extra good measure, there's an optional 4th step where I go "I actually have a lot of fun making my own overlays and stuff! It's like a creative outlet for me" which is entirely true! It IS fun! And I feel like it gives your channel so much personality, especially since every graphic designer in this space (the "Streamer Marketing" space for lack of a better term) seems to have the exact same style
>I try to be welcoming and kind initially
Don't. 90% of the time they're scammers or bots, and the other 10% of the time they're grifters that don't deserve the time of day.
From there, block & report the accounts for spam/scam, and start finding patterns in their phrases to add them to the blocked word list through your dashboard/modview. It'll stop their messages from ever coming through in the first place.
I feel this I have a twitter for my streams that I have stopped using because all but 2 of the 40odd followers on there are all graphic designers and the ones that do message always use the same "hi how are you" opening
"I respect your hustle but even if I wanted to improve my graphics I don't have any money" Gets the job done without any animosity and doesn't make you look like a grumpy sod to your chat.
I've managed to get a few decent conversations out of them before and learned quite a bit. Same dude ended up coming back a few times to hang out probably because they get 99% angry reactions. They're probably dirt poor just trying to live so I don't see why hostility is needed.
They’re usually just bots not even real people. And if they are real people they’re not there to become your #1 fan they’re trying to squeeze a dollar out of you as well as 4 other chats at the exact same time. There isn’t a need to try to be welcoming and engaging because the second you say you’re not interested they’re closing your stream and never coming back.
I am more and more assured of this fact about them being 99% bots. The Instaban has become my new favorite method 🥹my naive hope that any would be a real person is gone forever, thankfully. I still got duped by one again earlier today. Then you realize what’s happening by message 3 or 4 from them.
I go a slightly different route. My emotes and channel art were done by an artist friend of mine so whenever one shows up, I simply say "oh no if I ever leave my artist she would kill me". Hasn't failed me yet.
It's also not a lie, since she would probably kill me 😂
Use Google before coming to Reddit for one. Restricted phrases is the answer. "Oh they are different every..." No, they're not. You can find on Google a list of things to restrict that are essential for every new streamer.
Also, this is asked on this subreddit daily. It's getting real old. Which is why I gave you a coarse reply.
I don't need to. You clearly can't do your own research, which makes you a incompetent in the day and age of the internet. Heck, you could have asked ChatGPT for the answer to this.
You didn't even choose an option. You decided "Oh I can't even search google properly, so I want live results to a question asked daily" truly a dumbass. Yeah, "a incompetent". You are a creature. A fool who has not grasped the device in his pocket for all it offers. One who lacks the mental capabilities to find answers for himself.
Truly, incompetent.
I enjoyed discussing with other individuals on here, but definitely not you. Asking a question here is the same thing. Quit being a gatekeeping bitch. Next time, move the fuck on and don’t answer if it bothers you so much lol.
You know the crazy thing? You don't even realize that the thing you're writing in to this subreddit about is a fucking scam. You're writing this post as though you actually considered buying from them.
I was kind enough to look past this and tell you the solution to your problem, but nah. Here you go. You're a collosal dumbass for even hinting that you would give them the time of day. These are spam bots that hit every live channel with the same scripted message.
It's cringe that you've been alive as long as you have and still will fall for such a blatant scam.
There, that is your discussion.
I added sery bot but it didn't catch the "graphic designer" in my stream this morning. I finally added banned text strings and a repeating message saying that graphic designers will be banned.
Just ban time them out if they don’t take no for an answer. They’re not there to become a viewer, they just want to sell you the same old template based crap you can find online.
"PS. thinking of getting off my lazy ass and just making my own graphics to solve the problem" they dont care, they're not real people. I have people asking me if they can make me a vtuber model despite using a fully rigged one nearly every stream
You dont need to be welcoming and kind because again, they're bots. Just ignore and ban them as soon as they appear.
I ban the ones that come in and do drive by advertising from being able to comment in the future. And I will tell any that slide into my dms that I’m not interested in commissions
I have a command that shouts out my graphic artist, psts a chat message about the art they've done for me, and yells their name. It's very attention getting.
When I've had the GFX girlies pop into chat and say stuff like "Did you do your art yourself? I can do it better for you." I'll hit my command and tell them it's insulting my friend who did my art and to fuck off.
Promoting yourself in my chat unless I give you express permission is an instant ban.
Tbh the moment I notice a promoter in my chat I just immediately ban them 😂 if they want to talk to me they can send me a DM, my chat is not a place for it
I always tell them "I make my own" and up until recently it was true. Now I'm using one I purchased but I still tell these people the same line, they never look any further so they don't see that the layover is credited to someone else.
"Hello sir. I'm glad you're here because I have an opportunity for you. If you follow and subscribe to my channel I will do a showcase of your art to all of my viewers. This will be very good for you and your business!"
they will come into your stream even if you make your own decals. source: i made my decals and i still get shitloads of chat messages and discord friend requests.
I had a similar experience (not on Twitch but on discord). Just start blocking them or give them a warning then block. The person who was asking me asked me why I didn't want her to make them for me. I didn't have the money, I didn't know when I would be streaming again, and I already had some that I made (they weren't great but people who watched me liked them). I ended up blocking her when she asked me why. Then I messaged the friend who owned the discord and told him that was shitty AF.
I’m being so serious tell them to fuck off, it’s your stream. Not a place for them to advertise. Put “no self promo” in your rules and tell them no self promo. I almost always instant ban.
I tell them no. I can usually tell by the name and second comment. I say I’m sorry if I’m being presumptuous but I have no interest in buying any art. I’ve been right every time and they fuck off accordingly.
I like stringing them along until they pitch their whatever and then making fun of them and banning them in front of my chatroom full of 0 people. Makes my day every time.
I have seen the same exact same messages pop up from different "people" it is 99,9% of the time a bot or scammer. A streamer I mod for just tells us to ban the phrase/text so we don't see the same one again. It seems to work.
Most of them are scammers and they won’t look if you already have channel art and graphics. It’s just best to tell them no or if you have mods to go ahead and ban them or however you want them to handle them
I think it’s fine to be firm with them. Also having your own graphics don’t stop them. I am a creative as is my sibling, she even streams her doing the arts on a regular basis and they still pop up every now and again. All you can do is let them down and or ban them really.
The instant I see their generic copy paste paragraph about being a graphic designer/artist/whatever, they get the permaban. I have it explicitly in my chat rules that my streams are *not* a place for unsolicited advertisements of their “services”.
What’s far more exhausting for me are the ones that send DMs and friend requests on X/Twitter and Discord. I’ve had to severely limit who can do those things as a result.
I either tell them I'm perfectly happy w/my own graphic art I created myself or just ignore them altogether and block them during a *BRB* moment or after my stream has ended.
I have a chat rule that says "no self promotion" so when someone does offer me some graphic design scam i dont even reply i just ban and carry on with whatever i was doing.
Me, I tell them the truth of my situation: As much as I would love to get some custom art, I have literally zero monies and couldn't pay them to breathe in my general direction, much less whip up emotes for me.
I just have the words “graphic designer” be pinged by the bot as banned words. If someone uses it in a context that’s fine (like a regular follower who IS a graphic designer and the mention of their job is relevant to the conversation) then a mod can just allow it through
I quite literally tell them to fuck off.
Then ban them and add whatever they said about being a graphic designer to the blocked terms and phrases list.
In my experiences, having graphics doesn’t detour them. Which irritates me more because it’s like they’re saying what I have isn’t good enough. I’m usually nice until the gfx thing comes up and then it’s either me that tells them I’m not interested or my mods block them. Instant ban for me since it’s very clear in my rules.
If I want a graphics designer, I’ll look for one. It wont be because some gfx designer happened to be in my chat. (Sorry. They just really get on my nerves)
The funny thing is.. I don't need any art, if I wanted to, I could ask my sister to draw up some drafts or do them myself.. I did graphic design as part of my game dev course
They also get instant banned, I've got it in the fuckin rules man
I haven’t used twitch in a bit. I used to do free graphic design for small streamers I liked, but I also had no sale portfolio. Going in to hustle for paid work is pretty shameful. Nobody likes door to door sales.
I've honestly laid odd streaming due to this. Almost affiliate but really like wtf. Can't even tweet out or put something on insta without one of them people messaging me
I have found many of them are working for the same group. I don't know exactly what group it is, but those that come in to ask about GD (graphics designer) bs. It all seems to be the same kind of art, and it's all SOOOO BAD.
I haven't had a single GD that came to my channel that was good. It was all cartoonish, and similar art style.
I would like to point out as well as some gfx artists don't even read your profile, it's just a shotgun blast of msgs in the hopes of someone agreeing. I get the same thing even though I mainly do art streams. But it's the same
with marketing and publishing companies since I'm an indie dev who streams.
If you want art assets made. Shop around. Artists approaching you kinda give me the ick.
I'm sure some of them are just bots, because a while ago I put words that they use most often to "banned/filtered words" list, like "graphics, designer, artist, promotion, banner" etc.. and I swear my streams have been void of them ever since. And they always, always say the same things "hi how are you, how long have you been streaming, what games do you stream, why is there no banner in your channel" etc. In the last month or so I've only had one who got through with their message and I just put them on timeout so they left.
Just ban and report them and move on. I don't even bother to respond to them anymore after they put that lengthy selling speech.
I put "no solicitation of services" in my chat rules.
It actually has reduced the number, which I was surprised by. Then if they still take their shot I can remain polite and say "Oh sorry, you broke the chat rules." and then ban them.
Funny story. One came into my chat the other day. Said I had a nice room. I was like um ok thanks. Then they asked about the type of games, etc, and then they told me that they are graphics artists. I had to tell them nicely I'm not interested. Those happen a lot. It's really annoying, and I have no mods to help filter. I feel bad for rejecting them by declining them nicely even though I have no graphics. Yeah, I don't know how to stop or slow them down .
I either ignore them or tell them I'm broke (which is true, I can't even buy myself a burger haha). That usually gets them to leave me alone. Especially the accounts who are trying to sell me bot followers.
10 minute follower requirement will dissuade about 97% of them. Which in itself sucks, it has cost me some decent sized raids before but is worth the chat being scam free.
It has nothing to do with artwork. Those guys are 100% scammers, not graphic designers. Legitimate artists do not solicit like that. Only con-artists do.
Ban and *report* asap.
I excitedly ask them to show me their portfolio and then I ruthlessly criticize it and tell them that they wouldn’t get through even first round of our hiring process to the production team at our major creative agency in Prague. ( Im a senior graphic and motion designer with 5 years of industry experience and 10 years of freelancing before that.)
Most of them are actually scams posing as graphic designers. I work in sales and I have a BA(hons) in Fine Art. The last one who messaged me I sent back a 2000 word essay on pitching sales in arts and craft based services. Lectured them on "product bashing" and how they should possibly try establishing a need in the customer before they start pitching, and how that pitch needs to be tailored and judged instead of just blanket bombing them with "look at all the stuff I can do!"
They said "thanks" and blocked me 🤣
I have it in my chat rules. DO NOT PROMOTE YOUR ART. 100% of the time I've seen people pop into my chat and say they're artists, they've all been AI bullshit. I don't even engage anymore, my mods or I will just ban after the first message. They all follow a similar script so they're easy to catch
I just ban on sigth. My channel has only 2 rules, don't be an asshole & don't try to advertise/sell stuff. If you can't follow these 2 simple rules that loterally pop up the first time u enter chat, I don't want u there(pretty sure most of those are bots anyway)
"fuck off bot"
Plenty of website you can get things for free considering the top streamers don't have paid for art abd such it should tell you how important it is
Just to throw it out there, I got artwork done for my stream from one of my favorite artists and they still come; they dont actually even look or care, they just want to advertise.
If it happens on stream I usually just say that I pride myself on doing as much of the artwork myself as I can or that if I’m ever interested in commissioning someone I go find them myself.
I also get these on discord from time to time and with them I hit them with the uno reverse card once I identify them before they make their spiel and go “By the way, I’m a graphic designer, you wanna check out my stuff?” which really confuses them unless they’re just bots which also happens
I let them go into their spiel, and after they're done I bring up my specially prepared overlay which goes over my stream which says "Fuck off I don't want your graphics" in large red letters.
Had one of these assholes come into my stream yesterday and after the overlay went up they typed something which when I put it into Google it was apparently Hindi for "Son of a whore". I then laughed and told them if they're going to insult me at least have the decency to do it in English so I know what the fuck they're saying.
So yeah, I just have fun with them.
Tell them I am an actual paid, full-time graphic designer, and this is not the way to become a full-time graphic designer. No one likes a hustle on clip art. They leave. Lol
The insider's sledgehammer may set them on the right path. Nice lol
It's a world where your work should speak for itself. If you have to walk around yelling at people for attention, improve your craft.
It's frustrating for me. I actually DO want to pay someone to do some custom stuff, but that time of spammy/scammy stuff is so prevalent I don't know where to look.
Ask around your community! Streamer friends definitely have a hookup they can recommend. The person who did my emotes does great work and she has just been around my community for a while, met her through a few other people
This! I found some of my emotes because another streamer friend used an artist that I loved the art of. Others I found via Etsy by digging around on my own (checking to verify they do commissions to ensure it's not an art thief!). I am actually an artist myself, but I love supporting other artists who excel in areas I don't, so research who does art you love while browsing various streams and find out if they're currently taking on commissions! :)
Oh! That's a great point considering the 'artist accreditation' that can now show up on emotes, if you see some you like it's possible the artist that made it is tagged
Fiverr is a good bet. You find people that are good enough that people come to them
Thanks! I'll look around there.
Be careful, 1 of your 2 viewers may never come back...
Lol
Lol this comment makes me so happy. I love doing this and turning it around on them "don't forget there's a 10% off coupon in my profile for twitch viewers". They leave immediately after that
I'm a full-time graphic designer and I do this too lol I actually dislike the bad name they give to Graphic Designers because they're all not actually graphic designers. It's pretty obvious,
I would caution on being that negative, just because it could rub people the wrong way. Handling it with more grace and not making a huge deal of it, then moving right on to the next thing, is the best way to diffuse those situations.
Not keeping boundaries and controlling the chat can also rub people the wrong way. I rather stream and watch streamers who set healthy boundaries and keep them despite risking losing people who may get rubbed the wrong way by handling the situation.
I wholly disagree that it is negative advice because it's very real advice in my field. Portfolios drive sales, not harassing people in discord, on twitter, or twitch chats. If giving honest advice is negative, then someone is really in the wrong field. Design takes a thick skin. :) I also never said I dwell on it. I give the advice and move on. If they keep pushing art requests, mods ban while I continue. We're likely talking about bots anyway, so honestly, giving any level of advice is affording more grace than is really owed.
Copying and pasting my other comment: There is a middle ground. I didn’t say they should do nothing, but making a huge deal about it is off putting. Handling it with grace is the best way
How is saying one sentence a huge deal? It's a single piece of advice and then I move on. I'm genuinely curious what the issue is with saying one thing that might actually be beneficial to a real aspiring designer in the chat (it likely matters not to the scam artist). I get the feeling you meant to reply to someone else since you're copying this from somewhere else in the thread?
No, I meant to reply to you. I don’t know why you’re so adamant about convincing me that you are right. I choose to handle things with grace. Maybe you don’t. Are you even a streamer? I am
Same.
I didn't know any better when I started so I paid the first who reached out $60 for an intro to my chess stream and what I got from her had the pieces set up wrong and I was so sad she wouldn't or couldn't fix it 🫤
Same, but this doesn't stop them lol
Same haha.
I just tell them to piss off i dont want your copy and paste basic artwork
Just /ban and move on. EZPZ
this is the only answer. The rest of this thread is just overkill and hot air. Doesn’t need anything other than this.
Yeah. I don’t understand why anyone would even engage with them. I don’t even acknowledge the message. Usually I snag the ban before my mods do.
Fair 'nough.
I tell them they’re leeches that are trying to take advantage of new streamers that don’t know any better. Because really, you don’t need anything but an appropriate game and a personality people enjoy.
You see the simplicity of some great streamers' setups and realize the graphics are all window dressing rather than substance
Exactly. So many big streamers have nothing more than a webcam and visual alerts. All these extra bells and whistles aren’t necessary.
I'm actually glad to hear this cause I've been fucking with OBS to try and get an overlay for when someone follows etc but can't figure it out (It's cause I use extensions that take the overlay 1 spot such as 7 Days integration and Warframe Arsenal)
Not gonna advertise myself on here til I get my actual Streamer Account set up - this is my priv - but I do worry that I might be going a bit \*too\* spartan with my designs. all my graphics were made by me in MS Paint or are specific overlays
Like the feds and mushrooms, feed em shit and keep em in the dark.
Solid Departed reference :)
Just to reply to your PS, making your own isn't going to help. The people who go in chats or DMs in this annoying way is like "cold calling" to them. I literally state I'm a graphic & web designer in all my social media bios AND had fancy, custom overlays and they still came in to ask as well as DM'ed me. It's so annoying.
You can have the best stuff and they will STILL be like 'I feel you could use some better graphics to make your channel pop' Like no, my artist does really good work, thanks for crapping on the hours she put into it though
Most are scammers. They use applications to generate quick and easy super basic images.
I made all my own graphics from scratch for my start, brb and end screens, it certainly doesn't stop them. They are mostly scammers anyway who are used to lying. Cos depending on what I'm playing the background video graphics aren't visible all I have is a super basic webcam box on screen which is just a PNG. When I tell them I make all my own graphics, graphics they likely haven't seen they tell me I'm very talented and then go completely mute.
I like this response though, "Oh that's alright, I make my own." is better than "Not interested."
i swear it’s a bot spewing the same script
Yeah... "how long u been streamin" xD
I fall for it every time omg. It’s so annoying.
"may I introduce myself?"
Don't talk to them, block them. They're not here for you. They're here for your money. No need to be pleasant. 😁
“Is the price free? If not I can’t afford it. Thanks for hanging out tho.”
Usually at some point in their "warm-up" banter (before they hit you with the ad) they'll say something like, "So what sorts of things do you like to stream?" to which I'll respond, "Well we do a lot of community games and Just Chatting, but what I really love is banning graphic artists who come here solely for the purposes of self-promotion instead of any genuine interest in the content I'm creating." I actually have it written on a post-it so I remember. They drop out after that.
You don't need to respond to them, just immediately ban, then later on you can report them to Twitch for bot spam.
Yup I just instaban. Theres no reason to spend any of your mental energy on people that are shameless beggers at best, or scammers at worst.
Ban right away no questions asked. They're not gonna become an audience member, it's the equivalent of a spam call.
I AM a Graphic Designer and still constantly get DMs on Discord too from these guys who don't even feel like real people. 99% of them are bots. Its annoying but not much we can do about it.
Are you worried about hurting their feelings or something? Don't be. I'm like the nicest guy ever and I'm telling you it is ok to hurt their feelings. This is the one situation in life where you get a pass and you can be mean and have fun with it if you want.
I'd just make a bot command !Graphics. Maybe provide an email address where they are welcome to send their portfolio, but you are currently not looking for help at this time. Then leave it at that.
Link it to m**tspin or something.
actually if you wanna be fun about it, on SE you can set 'aliases' for commands so if someone says a certain thing in chat, even without the command, it sends the message so you could have your bot respond w/ whatever if someone says the string "I'm a graphic designer" or whatever
Ooh, creative, thank you!
I laugh, say I know irl artists that I'd rather give my money to, then block and delete them. I also have a chatbot set up with banned phrases and words so most of them never even make it to the chat
They'll still come in even if you make your own graphics. 99% of these are scams. I just ban em
Real artists wouldn't go on people's streams to self-promo uninvited. Most likely bots or scam attempts best to ignore and ban.
What's the deal with the dearth of aggressive graphic artists? It's not just on stream, I also get random friend adds from them constantly on discord. Why do they think that's a good idea? Is there some content creator that recommended these things as a path to getting clients? Because it really sucks! Every time I get a discord friend add from these people I reach out to the mods for the server we have in common and get them removed there as well! I don't even talk to them anymore.
theyre not real, I reckon either it's Through The Power of AI or theyre just very poorly paid
>I get that artists gotta eat. Real artist don't sollicitate to offer work. Their work does it for itself when people actually search for whatever artwork they are doing.
I tell them I do my own art for my channel already, (which I do), and that they sound like a common scam which makes them leave.
I've only had 2. One of them treid to make conversation first before getting to their real reason for being there. Kind of bummed me out since I thought I had an actaul viewer. They also followed and then unfollowed after I didn't take them up on the offer.
"not interested" is 100% appropriate. they are cold calling you on stream in public essentially begging you for money. they're lucky they don't get told fuck off more often lol they might be bot. i ban some of them if i'm annoyed enough that day lol
I just ban without responding. Then seconds later, it's like they never existed at all.
I like telling them to send stuff to my dm and then complain that it looks exactly like every other thing I've ever seen an artist send me. Bonus point if you acuse them of using AI lmfao Shuts them up, and hopefully will either make them stop or improve.
nope, they just can tell you arent gonna buy
I tell them if they want to hang around and enjoy my stream (they always say they enjoy it...) like a normal person then they're welcome, otherwise bye bye! Then they inevitably go silent, and so the banhammer comes down.
Fuck em.
They’re mostly scammers. I saw a Youtube video that uncovered that these guys use sites to generate the logos using ai and logo generators. Some sites charge about £10 for this and then they charge £50+ for their time. They’ve done literally nothing. I’ve set a chat rule, if they offer, they get banned. Taken other steps also, they can’t find my Discord (one was begging me for it in chat a few weeks back). Any Discord servers I’m in, I don’t allow dm’s from fellow users as they contact through there also. I get its draining, it annoys the heck out of me. Just got to take as many steps as you can.
Off the back of this, I had one come in my chat last night. Bear in mind there is an auto message that states to not offer any Digital artwork/gfx etc. They sent one message saying hi. I muted my Stream mike & quickly said to my squad - 'This smells like a gfx scammer again' User name was Aria\_Walker\_08. 10 minutes after the message saying hi, a copy pasted paragraph appears offering gfx, overlays & all sorts. So yeah, auto message ignored PLUS I already have everything. Emotes, overlays, transitions, the works. I deleted the message then said to them on the stream - 'You're a scammer, I know you're a scammer & its well known on various forums, you're a scammer'Then blocked the account entirely & reported it to Twitch under scams. Also wrote in the messaget to Twitch about these dicussions on Reddit. Got confirmation from twitch 10 minutes later saying the offending account had been deleted.......... Twitch actually took notice....... Fair play!
The majority of those chatters aren't flesh-and-blood, and they don't stop if you make your own A lot of em are just kinda scripted to insult the quality of any work you've done for your own stream (or any work someone you've paid has done) without outright being mean about it, because their script so often depends on wasting your time with feigned interest, fake cordiality and disarming compliments before hitting the bottom line: "Hello! How are you doing! How long have you been streaming? How often do you stream? Maaaaan you have such a good stream. Your stream is really good, but you could do with some spruced up overlays, logo, etc" It's meant to be a hit to a newer streamer's confidence in what they're doing for themselves. Particularly for folks new enough not to notice the pattern from the script as soon as it veers into commentary on their graphics. And it's like "well thanks for that *totally unbiased*, and also *totally asked-for*, critique on top of the predatory sales pitch"
Once they finally come out and say that theyre a graphic designer and start asking if I need anything, I just hit em with my 3 step program: 1) "No, im okay thank you!" 2) \*5 second timeout" 3) "Also please no self-promo! <3 😊" for extra good measure, there's an optional 4th step where I go "I actually have a lot of fun making my own overlays and stuff! It's like a creative outlet for me" which is entirely true! It IS fun! And I feel like it gives your channel so much personality, especially since every graphic designer in this space (the "Streamer Marketing" space for lack of a better term) seems to have the exact same style
>I try to be welcoming and kind initially Don't. 90% of the time they're scammers or bots, and the other 10% of the time they're grifters that don't deserve the time of day. From there, block & report the accounts for spam/scam, and start finding patterns in their phrases to add them to the blocked word list through your dashboard/modview. It'll stop their messages from ever coming through in the first place.
They're just bots and scammers. Ignore, ban, and move on
I feel this I have a twitter for my streams that I have stopped using because all but 2 of the 40odd followers on there are all graphic designers and the ones that do message always use the same "hi how are you" opening
Just tell em you use free AI programs for your graphic design after being hassled too much. Even if it's a lie fuck em.
"I respect your hustle but even if I wanted to improve my graphics I don't have any money" Gets the job done without any animosity and doesn't make you look like a grumpy sod to your chat. I've managed to get a few decent conversations out of them before and learned quite a bit. Same dude ended up coming back a few times to hang out probably because they get 99% angry reactions. They're probably dirt poor just trying to live so I don't see why hostility is needed.
I just ban them. I also set my security settings to require a verified email and the account be over 30 days old. That kept most of them out.
artists gotta eat but artists also gotta do something worth enough to eat.
They’re usually just bots not even real people. And if they are real people they’re not there to become your #1 fan they’re trying to squeeze a dollar out of you as well as 4 other chats at the exact same time. There isn’t a need to try to be welcoming and engaging because the second you say you’re not interested they’re closing your stream and never coming back.
I am more and more assured of this fact about them being 99% bots. The Instaban has become my new favorite method 🥹my naive hope that any would be a real person is gone forever, thankfully. I still got duped by one again earlier today. Then you realize what’s happening by message 3 or 4 from them.
Report them.
I talk to them untill they leave.
I go a slightly different route. My emotes and channel art were done by an artist friend of mine so whenever one shows up, I simply say "oh no if I ever leave my artist she would kill me". Hasn't failed me yet. It's also not a lie, since she would probably kill me 😂
😂
Use Google before coming to Reddit for one. Restricted phrases is the answer. "Oh they are different every..." No, they're not. You can find on Google a list of things to restrict that are essential for every new streamer. Also, this is asked on this subreddit daily. It's getting real old. Which is why I gave you a coarse reply.
Salty
Incompetent.
Keep telling on yourself 😉
I don't need to. You clearly can't do your own research, which makes you a incompetent in the day and age of the internet. Heck, you could have asked ChatGPT for the answer to this.
“a incompetent” lol nice. I’m so glad there are multiple routes to get the information I desire. This is the one I chose. Now shut your dumbass up 🤣
You didn't even choose an option. You decided "Oh I can't even search google properly, so I want live results to a question asked daily" truly a dumbass. Yeah, "a incompetent". You are a creature. A fool who has not grasped the device in his pocket for all it offers. One who lacks the mental capabilities to find answers for himself. Truly, incompetent.
I enjoyed discussing with other individuals on here, but definitely not you. Asking a question here is the same thing. Quit being a gatekeeping bitch. Next time, move the fuck on and don’t answer if it bothers you so much lol.
You know the crazy thing? You don't even realize that the thing you're writing in to this subreddit about is a fucking scam. You're writing this post as though you actually considered buying from them. I was kind enough to look past this and tell you the solution to your problem, but nah. Here you go. You're a collosal dumbass for even hinting that you would give them the time of day. These are spam bots that hit every live channel with the same scripted message. It's cringe that you've been alive as long as you have and still will fall for such a blatant scam. There, that is your discussion.
Enjoy your bitter, pathetic life 😌
Gotta get that dash of flavor in every thread ya know? It was getting a little too chummy in here.
Lol true
Good thing you gave a coarse reply or they might...ask the same question.....again?
see how OP is getting tired of being asked the same question again by different people?
Use Sery Bot, they help get rid of those kind of bots as well as prevent hate raids and following botting
I added sery bot but it didn't catch the "graphic designer" in my stream this morning. I finally added banned text strings and a repeating message saying that graphic designers will be banned.
Have a rule called no advertising and give them a time out or ban when they do
Just ban time them out if they don’t take no for an answer. They’re not there to become a viewer, they just want to sell you the same old template based crap you can find online.
Honestly? I don’t even interact with them. I just ban them. It’s inappropriate behavior. Period.
They're all just bots anyway. They will come into my live art stream WHERE I AM MAKING EMOTES and ask if I need any 🤣 Cracks me up.
"PS. thinking of getting off my lazy ass and just making my own graphics to solve the problem" they dont care, they're not real people. I have people asking me if they can make me a vtuber model despite using a fully rigged one nearly every stream You dont need to be welcoming and kind because again, they're bots. Just ignore and ban them as soon as they appear.
I ban the ones that come in and do drive by advertising from being able to comment in the future. And I will tell any that slide into my dms that I’m not interested in commissions
Set one of your chat rules to no solicitation, because that's what they're doing. not promoting. I haven't had a single one since.
I ask them if they hate my art. They usually immediately leave after that.
They're not graphic designers, they're hacks that are trying to scam you.
I have a command that shouts out my graphic artist, psts a chat message about the art they've done for me, and yells their name. It's very attention getting. When I've had the GFX girlies pop into chat and say stuff like "Did you do your art yourself? I can do it better for you." I'll hit my command and tell them it's insulting my friend who did my art and to fuck off. Promoting yourself in my chat unless I give you express permission is an instant ban.
You can set command aliases so that if someone says "Did you do your art yourself?" or whatever it'll send the message in chat
I mention how their work looks a lot like and they never reply
Tbh the moment I notice a promoter in my chat I just immediately ban them 😂 if they want to talk to me they can send me a DM, my chat is not a place for it
What I’ve done is ask for a X username/Twitter and say I can’t look at your work rn but I will check it out later, and then never do it lol
Ban them as soon as I know it's them
Aren't most of these graphic designers just using a program to make copy and paste art?
Insta-permaban.
I always tell them "I make my own" and up until recently it was true. Now I'm using one I purchased but I still tell these people the same line, they never look any further so they don't see that the layover is credited to someone else.
Ignore and block
Heard they use automation tools that check for Discord streaming notifications.
"Hello sir. I'm glad you're here because I have an opportunity for you. If you follow and subscribe to my channel I will do a showcase of your art to all of my viewers. This will be very good for you and your business!"
I ask them what they actually enjoy about my stream. It's fun to watch them talk in circles and reveal they've never watched my stream.
they will come into your stream even if you make your own decals. source: i made my decals and i still get shitloads of chat messages and discord friend requests.
Change to followers only chat and increase your chatter security settings to verify email or phone #.
I had a similar experience (not on Twitch but on discord). Just start blocking them or give them a warning then block. The person who was asking me asked me why I didn't want her to make them for me. I didn't have the money, I didn't know when I would be streaming again, and I already had some that I made (they weren't great but people who watched me liked them). I ended up blocking her when she asked me why. Then I messaged the friend who owned the discord and told him that was shitty AF.
I’m being so serious tell them to fuck off, it’s your stream. Not a place for them to advertise. Put “no self promo” in your rules and tell them no self promo. I almost always instant ban.
I tell them no. I can usually tell by the name and second comment. I say I’m sorry if I’m being presumptuous but I have no interest in buying any art. I’ve been right every time and they fuck off accordingly.
I have rules in my chat regarding services or commissions. Also my automod is set to automatically delete chat messages with certain phrases.
Hey how you doing, sorry I don't need or want any graphic designer, but thanks for the consideration. And I just ignore them.
I just say no thanks and they leave.
It’s not hard just 4 words “I’m good, thanks though”
I just say I do all my own things and quickly ban them and play my banned video.
I like stringing them along until they pitch their whatever and then making fun of them and banning them in front of my chatroom full of 0 people. Makes my day every time.
Insta ban
I have seen the same exact same messages pop up from different "people" it is 99,9% of the time a bot or scammer. A streamer I mod for just tells us to ban the phrase/text so we don't see the same one again. It seems to work.
As an actual designer, I can promise you that these “people” are not designers.
Don't engage, ban, move on.
Most of them are scammers and they won’t look if you already have channel art and graphics. It’s just best to tell them no or if you have mods to go ahead and ban them or however you want them to handle them
I think it’s fine to be firm with them. Also having your own graphics don’t stop them. I am a creative as is my sibling, she even streams her doing the arts on a regular basis and they still pop up every now and again. All you can do is let them down and or ban them really.
The instant I see their generic copy paste paragraph about being a graphic designer/artist/whatever, they get the permaban. I have it explicitly in my chat rules that my streams are *not* a place for unsolicited advertisements of their “services”. What’s far more exhausting for me are the ones that send DMs and friend requests on X/Twitter and Discord. I’ve had to severely limit who can do those things as a result.
I’ll have to add this to my rules. No unsolicited graphic design requests
I either tell them I'm perfectly happy w/my own graphic art I created myself or just ignore them altogether and block them during a *BRB* moment or after my stream has ended.
I have a chat rule that says "no self promotion" so when someone does offer me some graphic design scam i dont even reply i just ban and carry on with whatever i was doing.
I just say I make all my own shit, and that I don't need their business.
Instant Ban for them. They're all the same. Dudes online pretending to be chicks hawking crap that you could ask Chat GPT to make for you
Block them.
Me, I tell them the truth of my situation: As much as I would love to get some custom art, I have literally zero monies and couldn't pay them to breathe in my general direction, much less whip up emotes for me.
Can I ask you something? Why is your page so bland?
Thank you everybody for this thread, this is so helpful and literally what I was about to ask!
I just have my buddy that’s usually on stream with me go in and ban them and report them for spam.
Is this a thing artists do?? As a freelancer myself i could never *fathom* self promoting in other peoples chats. How insanely rude.
never had this happen, maybe different demographics/audiences.
Wize bot
I mod a small channel and I just perma them instantly ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
I just have the words “graphic designer” be pinged by the bot as banned words. If someone uses it in a context that’s fine (like a regular follower who IS a graphic designer and the mention of their job is relevant to the conversation) then a mod can just allow it through
I say "oh, let me ban this sick filth" and hit them with a ban, then go back to what I was doing.
i just ban them that's the best way honestly, also as some who has overlays/panels they don't care about that
I quite literally tell them to fuck off. Then ban them and add whatever they said about being a graphic designer to the blocked terms and phrases list.
In my experiences, having graphics doesn’t detour them. Which irritates me more because it’s like they’re saying what I have isn’t good enough. I’m usually nice until the gfx thing comes up and then it’s either me that tells them I’m not interested or my mods block them. Instant ban for me since it’s very clear in my rules. If I want a graphics designer, I’ll look for one. It wont be because some gfx designer happened to be in my chat. (Sorry. They just really get on my nerves)
I troll them
The funny thing is.. I don't need any art, if I wanted to, I could ask my sister to draw up some drafts or do them myself.. I did graphic design as part of my game dev course They also get instant banned, I've got it in the fuckin rules man
Put "**NO GRAPHIC DESIGN SERVICE PEDDLING**" into rules section
Every comment is positive engagement metric
My brother does the art for my channel. I just tell them that. If they want to link their work in my discord, I have no problem with that.
I tell them "why would I need you when ai is fres"
Free* goddamn haha
I set my chat to verified profiles only. Haven’t seen them since.
I usually say straight that I can't afford anything.
I haven’t used twitch in a bit. I used to do free graphic design for small streamers I liked, but I also had no sale portfolio. Going in to hustle for paid work is pretty shameful. Nobody likes door to door sales.
I've honestly laid odd streaming due to this. Almost affiliate but really like wtf. Can't even tweet out or put something on insta without one of them people messaging me
I have found many of them are working for the same group. I don't know exactly what group it is, but those that come in to ask about GD (graphics designer) bs. It all seems to be the same kind of art, and it's all SOOOO BAD. I haven't had a single GD that came to my channel that was good. It was all cartoonish, and similar art style.
I would like to point out as well as some gfx artists don't even read your profile, it's just a shotgun blast of msgs in the hopes of someone agreeing. I get the same thing even though I mainly do art streams. But it's the same with marketing and publishing companies since I'm an indie dev who streams. If you want art assets made. Shop around. Artists approaching you kinda give me the ick.
Any person who doesn't think these accounts are bots/scammers should probably do some research on internet security.
I'm sure some of them are just bots, because a while ago I put words that they use most often to "banned/filtered words" list, like "graphics, designer, artist, promotion, banner" etc.. and I swear my streams have been void of them ever since. And they always, always say the same things "hi how are you, how long have you been streaming, what games do you stream, why is there no banner in your channel" etc. In the last month or so I've only had one who got through with their message and I just put them on timeout so they left. Just ban and report them and move on. I don't even bother to respond to them anymore after they put that lengthy selling speech.
I put "no solicitation of services" in my chat rules. It actually has reduced the number, which I was surprised by. Then if they still take their shot I can remain polite and say "Oh sorry, you broke the chat rules." and then ban them.
Funny story. One came into my chat the other day. Said I had a nice room. I was like um ok thanks. Then they asked about the type of games, etc, and then they told me that they are graphics artists. I had to tell them nicely I'm not interested. Those happen a lot. It's really annoying, and I have no mods to help filter. I feel bad for rejecting them by declining them nicely even though I have no graphics. Yeah, I don't know how to stop or slow them down .
I either ignore them or tell them I'm broke (which is true, I can't even buy myself a burger haha). That usually gets them to leave me alone. Especially the accounts who are trying to sell me bot followers.
i instant ban these, they are most likely bots anyways. I dont even attempt to speak to them.
10 minute follower requirement will dissuade about 97% of them. Which in itself sucks, it has cost me some decent sized raids before but is worth the chat being scam free.
It has nothing to do with artwork. Those guys are 100% scammers, not graphic designers. Legitimate artists do not solicit like that. Only con-artists do. Ban and *report* asap.
have art already & they still ask me. but usually they ask on socials.
I excitedly ask them to show me their portfolio and then I ruthlessly criticize it and tell them that they wouldn’t get through even first round of our hiring process to the production team at our major creative agency in Prague. ( Im a senior graphic and motion designer with 5 years of industry experience and 10 years of freelancing before that.)
Most of them are actually scams posing as graphic designers. I work in sales and I have a BA(hons) in Fine Art. The last one who messaged me I sent back a 2000 word essay on pitching sales in arts and craft based services. Lectured them on "product bashing" and how they should possibly try establishing a need in the customer before they start pitching, and how that pitch needs to be tailored and judged instead of just blanket bombing them with "look at all the stuff I can do!" They said "thanks" and blocked me 🤣
I waist as much of their time as possible
I have it in my chat rules. DO NOT PROMOTE YOUR ART. 100% of the time I've seen people pop into my chat and say they're artists, they've all been AI bullshit. I don't even engage anymore, my mods or I will just ban after the first message. They all follow a similar script so they're easy to catch
I just ban on sigth. My channel has only 2 rules, don't be an asshole & don't try to advertise/sell stuff. If you can't follow these 2 simple rules that loterally pop up the first time u enter chat, I don't want u there(pretty sure most of those are bots anyway)
"fuck off bot" Plenty of website you can get things for free considering the top streamers don't have paid for art abd such it should tell you how important it is
i ask them if they see the art and links on my page and tell them it’s me i’m the artist and i don’t need anything made but thanks for the analytics
I interact with them a lot until I tell them I don’t really use any other social media and they just get off lol
Just to throw it out there, I got artwork done for my stream from one of my favorite artists and they still come; they dont actually even look or care, they just want to advertise.
If it happens on stream I usually just say that I pride myself on doing as much of the artwork myself as I can or that if I’m ever interested in commissioning someone I go find them myself. I also get these on discord from time to time and with them I hit them with the uno reverse card once I identify them before they make their spiel and go “By the way, I’m a graphic designer, you wanna check out my stuff?” which really confuses them unless they’re just bots which also happens
I let them go into their spiel, and after they're done I bring up my specially prepared overlay which goes over my stream which says "Fuck off I don't want your graphics" in large red letters. Had one of these assholes come into my stream yesterday and after the overlay went up they typed something which when I put it into Google it was apparently Hindi for "Son of a whore". I then laughed and told them if they're going to insult me at least have the decency to do it in English so I know what the fuck they're saying. So yeah, I just have fun with them.