r/Twitch 17h ago

Question Does Twitch no longer show when a user started following a streamer?

I recently noticed that when you click on a user's nickname in the chat, it no longer shows the date and year they started following the streamer (this is the case for everyone). Is this a bug? Or does Twitch no longer provide this information?

52 Upvotes

30 comments sorted by

57

u/chickenmeister 14h ago

Indeed, it appears that Twitch removed the "Following since ____" line from the user card/popup within the last day or so.

It is still visible for moderators, it seems. But for normal users, it's gone, even when looking at your own card; which is a little annoying, since it was a nice way to see how long you've been following, without polluting chat with !followage commands.

22

u/SoungaTepes twitch.tv/soungatepes 12h ago

Ok so twitch being Twitch the question now is.

Is this a feature or is this a new bug? lol its so hard to tell with Twitch 

15

u/Johnstone95 12h ago

I bet one person got bullied one time for being a fresh follower and reported to Twitch HQ and this was the solution.

1

u/Air2Jordan3 8h ago

Works for me on multiple channels I'm not subscribed to

1

u/James_Bolivar_DiGriz 7h ago

Still working for me, so maybe it was only rolled out regionally? (I'm in CA, and checked channels that i am following/subbed to as well as not)

5

u/Spir0rion 8h ago

On that note: has anybody noticed that sometimes people following isn't an alert for the streamers anymore? I had plenty of moments where there followers but I didn't get the notification

5

u/kiki838 7h ago

this has been happening to me a lot! i had a few people follow and i only noticed because i got an email saying i gained a new follower, its so strange! no alert, nothing in activity feed, nothing at all!

1

u/Spir0rion 6h ago

So it isn't just me. I feel bad after the stream when I couldn't shout them out :/

1

u/NationalCupcake6418 5h ago

It’s been happening to me for months, I feel bad because I want to say thank you to each person who follows

1

u/EchoAlia42 4h ago

Twitch doesn't even alert me for the streamer I mod for most of the time. If feels like it gives out random alerts whenever it feels like. I rely on Discord alerts for the communities I don't want to miss

4

u/Archii___ManiaK 13h ago

sad, less and less option/information/freedom but not only on twitch anyway ...

3

u/DreamHollow4219 8h ago

My guess is that they are prioritizing subscribers only.

It's scummy, but not the first time Twitch has made an unpopular decision to the detriment of viewers and streamers.

2

u/GrandWizardofOoZ 9h ago

But why did they remove it is there a public post about it somewhere ?

2

u/Kanbei_Alex 5h ago edited 5h ago

Yes, that's why I'm here. I just realized and wanted to know if there was an official explanation.

This change is a huge issue for small channels. When a streamer has small audience, it's not that strange to don't have moderators

If someone starts acting strangely, checking their follow age used to let you instantly know if they were a long time regular joking around or a troll who just barged in. Knowing this helped you decide whether to play along with the joke, ignore them, or even report them.

Terrible idea to change this

2

u/DeliciousToastie Affiliate 5h ago

Don't quote me on this, but I've heard Twitch made a few backend changes recently to limit what others can see. For example, I've seen reports that they finally closed a loophole to see who people follow on Twitch, so I'm guessing they've also removed this to stop bots scraping that information from the info card in chat instead. Considering that only mods can see it now, it seems to line up.

3

u/BarryCarlyon TwitchDev Ambassador, Developer, Extensions Nerd 17h ago

It is shown to moderators (or better) of the channel.

But to regular viewers that information has been gone for quite a while.

13

u/ArgoWizbang Freelance Web Developer/Graphic Artist for hire 16h ago edited 16h ago

But to regular viewers that information has been gone for quite a while.

You're thinking of the information available via the Twitch API or accessible from someone's Twitch channel/profile. When it comes to the information shown in a user card in a channel's chat using the /user card that information was still shown until about a day or so ago along with the user's current sub length (if applicable) and their account creation date. Now suddenly without any announcement or warning none of that information is shown when you pull up a user card unless you're a mod in the channel. And it's not just limited to viewing other users' information either; you can't even see your own follow/sub/account creation information in your user card anymore without being a mod.

-1

u/BarryCarlyon TwitchDev Ambassador, Developer, Extensions Nerd 16h ago

Probably I just assumed that first/thrid party ticked the same on that info.

Or twitch internal finally caught up with what was planned. (and I generally not check for that info in channels I'm not "working" in)

2

u/G00b3rb0y 17h ago

I just checked on the mobile app, it still does it. Must be A/B testing

-1

u/BarryCarlyon TwitchDev Ambassador, Developer, Extensions Nerd 17h ago

Mobile app tends to lag behind general site changes like this so I wouldn't take that as gospel, but happy to be wrong there

Usercards changed around the same time as we lost the "public" follow API's to my knowledge.

2

u/G00b3rb0y 17h ago

It’s also possible the mobile API for it is coded in such a way that some eldritch calamity is unleashed if it’s altered

1

u/BarryCarlyon TwitchDev Ambassador, Developer, Extensions Nerd 17h ago

One always needs to watch out for Cthulhu

2

u/PolarBailey_ twitch.tv/PolarBailey 13h ago

Natively maybe but in a channel I'm not a mod in i can still see it. I have the ffz and 7tv extensions

0

u/BarryCarlyon TwitchDev Ambassador, Developer, Extensions Nerd 13h ago

it might be a/b split testing out and/of FFZ/7tv will lose it if/when fully migrated

1

u/PolarBailey_ twitch.tv/PolarBailey 13h ago

Oof

1

u/fuweee 16h ago

works for me but not on the native card. I have to use 7tv or bttv card

1

u/flinterwood 6h ago

what's the option? i'm using bttv and it still not showing up

1

u/Scouter51st 4h ago

Why was this even considered? Without any announcement I'm going to consider this a bug they need to fix...

0

u/MakiaKisamai 13h ago

There’s stream bot commands that let you check it, like !followage. Not everyone uses it though.

-4

u/BuffyZia 16h ago

Most streamers have bots moderators that do that for you

For example !followage if streamelements is setup.

They (twitch) remove things that are not used that much. Could also be a bug. Either way is not really important.