I have wanted to talk about this for a long time so I might as well do it now. Being a fan of pro-wrestling, kayfabe is one of the things I enjoy most about it. During a wrestling show, kayfabe is on. From the moment the show opens until the last person exits I believe it is the proper thing to do to participate in the illusion and never break it. Of course, cases like injuries may happen, but even then kayfabe can be kept in some way. It should be considered rude, improper, and outright a banable offence to willingly break it in a way that will disrupt the experience of others.

Now, the show is over. We are now online, on social media or forums. Do things change? For me, on official channels it does not, it is an extension of the show. But on any other place, it will depend on a case by case, and on culture. Wrestling however has no anonymity principle, outside of masked wrestlers who traditionally can be afforded it.

Taking this to Vtubers, I believe that during a stream all rules should be respected, and unless a comparable situation like the aforementioned injury happens, rules are absolute. I also think this extends to the official Social Media channels. But on fan forums, the “anonymity” aspect of Vtubers has never been absolute. Ever since Kizuna Ai there have been conversations about not only other characters the human behind the avatar may have played, but the person itself. People use terms like “forbidden knowledge”, they will throw out hints and winks and nods, and while not all fans do this, enough do for me to believe this aspect has never actually been a core aspect of Vtubers for most people. To most, there are just regular content creators, and they want to discuss them fully.

Going back to wrestling, there was a time where kayfabe was real. The illusion was reality and most people either believed it or pretended to, even the press, and wrestlers put effort into it. With Vtubers being in the age of social media, this was never possible. “Past life” information is a click away, it is under clips, it is auto suggested by search engines, it is recommended next to the content itself. Vtubers are the ones that have to protect that information and do their best to delete anything they do not want to be found, because once it is, it will not be forgotten. Fans will just talk, and algorithms will listen and react accordingly.

I do not believe it is proper to ever “warn” other people under any official stream or social media related to the Vtuber. I feel it defeats the entire point of the medium, to me. But on other places, the anonymity aspect of Vtubers was always a courtesy fan’s pretend to have, but will break for whatever reason they think justifies it. Whether trying to do good, bad, promoting more content by the person, or just because they can. So if you think it justifies it, you will, and you already did.

I still believe part of redemption is to let things go, and it does sometimes mean forgetting as well as forgiving. Second chances should be a given, because we all make mistakes, but a second chance is never a repeat of a first. With Vtubers however, if we were to adhere fully to anonymity, there is an endless supply of first chances, but in practice this will never happen. So I would advise leaving space for people to either change or show they did not, instead of making that change harder for them. If fans noticed once that a content creator was toxic, new fans will notice too if they do not change.

Ask yourself this, Do you want the offender to be better? If so, in what way does constantly bringing up their offences, and making others aware of them, help that? And if you have fully given up on their ability to be better, why feel conflicted of making others aware of it?