I first began camming seven years ago when I made the decision that I wanted more independence and to be able to take care of myself. My boyfriend, now my husband, had mentioned camming to me, so I decided to try it out. When I first logged onto Chaturbate and just watched the other girls, it was amazing to see them enjoying themselves and being so comfortable in their bodies. I bought myself a $100 webcam and jumped in!
One of the first things I noticed starting out as a broadcaster is that there will always be users that try to take advantage of you. They will ask to be your moderator and try to dominate your room, or ask you to jump into private shows and be super demanding.
I avoid any toxic or controversial topics when camming or on social media, including politics, sports, current events, etc.
In case you encounter any negative situations like this, here are a few easy steps I’ve taken to avoid trolls and handle online drama, so you can cam and express yourself online peacefully.
Create a Positive Environment
Before I started camming, I understood that the internet can be a negative place and that I likely would encounter some online trolls and haters. However, when I actually started camming, I just completely ignored and banned these types of users. I found that instead of focusing on the negativity, if I just completely ignored it and took action, I was able to have successful shows.
Trolls want you to engage with them and giving them attention just fuels their behavior. As the old saying goes, “Don’t feed the trolls.” Instead of dwelling on a comment or a problem, I always look for a solution. Going into broadcasting with this attitude, and choosing not to engage with this type of behavior, helps keep my room a positive and happy place.
Protect Yourself From Doxing
Doxing is a form of internet harassment where individuals will publicly broadcast private or identifying information about an individual online. There are many steps that you can take to avoid this. One step is blocking IP addresses in your home state or home country from entering your cam room. This helps stop individuals from your community, who may know you personally, from seeing your cam room and potentially exposing personal information.
Another step to help avoid doxing is being aware of what you mention and show on cam. Avoid talking about any regional businesses, local events, sports teams or any other locally specific details. I always keep things general, so users can’t specifically pinpoint where I live and what my real name is. I’m also very careful about my cam room settings. If there is a window behind you, can you see a recognizable landmark? Do you have any pictures that give away your location? It’s important to be aware of these details in an effort to curb any of your personal information getting leaked.
Secure Personal Social Media Account
One thing that has helped keep my personal information and identity safe is deleting all my personal social media accounts. I have accounts for Chronic Love to help promote my cam shows, OnlyFans and content; however, those are strictly work accounts. Without personal social media accounts, my fans or community members won’t be able to find information about me personally online.
When I do post on social media, I’m always cautious of the content I post, just as with the steps above that I take to avoid doxing. I ensure there is no region-identifying information in the images or videos, that users can’t see where I’m presently located, what hotel I am staying at or any location metadata on images. It’s important to be aware of what you share online and how it can potentially be used against you. Always take the appropriate steps to protect your identity.
Implement Apps and Bots
There are so many great apps and bots available — especially on Chaturbate, where I continue to cam regularly — that allow you to customize and control your room. There are hundreds of different options that allow you to block specific words being mentioned in your chat, block specific users and more. They are created by the community and are open-source, so anyone can create a new one. A fan of mine created the Marley Bot, for example. It was specifically created with my needs in mind and asks users a simple math question before they can chat in my room. This helps minimize the number of trolls and bots spamming my room. Check out the "Apps & Bots" support page on the platform for what tools you can implement in your cam room.
Minimize Who Can Chat in Your Room
I have implemented a specific rule in my cam room where I don’t let “grey” users — those who don’t have any tokens — chat in my room. I’m fine with users without tokens watching my shows, but there are typically so many of these users, they can be hard to control. I find it’s more important to give my attention to users who are going to make my show happen, and who will support me. I love talking and connecting with people; however, I can do that on Twitter and Instagram, when not in my cam room. I like to keep my show focused to help achieve my goals.
Avoid Controversy
One way to stay out of trouble is to avoid controversy and confrontation in your cam room. I never put my nose in places it doesn’t belong. I avoid any toxic or controversial topics when camming or on social media, including politics, sports, current events, etc. I also never state my opinions, so there is no room for someone to disagree with me or to get into arguments in my chat.
I used to dabble in dominatrix work in my public cam room. However, as part of the character, I would say degrading and mean things. Some people would come into my room and find this upsetting. I didn’t want to come across as mean, or for users to think this was my typical camming personality, so I shifted to only doing dominatrix work in privates.
I always say: if you are going to get into something, be a part of the solution and spread love and positivity. At the end of the day, camming is about making connections, making people happy and having fun!
Chronic Love is an XBIZ Award-winning cam model on Chaturbate, who can be followed at MarleysChronicLove.com, OnlyFans.com/ChronicLove69 and @ChronicLove69 on Twitter.
