Guidelines For Race Commentary

The players are the stars of the show; not the commentators!  Please try to keep the commentary focused on what the players are doing, not yourself.  If you do mention yourself make sure it's for a purpose that adds information to the commentary.  Avoid telling personal stories that are not relevant to the race at hand.  It's fine to have things that make you unique as a commentator, but don't let it distract from the race.

Don't be too negative towards the players.  They are being quite brave by letting us restream them in front of an audience that is usually larger than they're used to.  It's ok to make objective statements about differences in skill level or to point out mistakes if it's something that's going to help the audience understand what's happening.  But try not to embarrass the runner.  If one player is not as skilled as the other it's useless to keep pointing it out.  Instead try to adjust your expectations to match the player's skill level.

Mute your mic when you're typing, eating, or doing something that will make noise.  SETTING A HOTKEY will make this much easier.

Touching the microphone or the stand makes a lot of noise, so mute your mic if you need to adjust it.

Wear headphones if there are other commentators so that their voices don't echo through your mic.  Discord tries to prevent this, but it doesn't work very well, so headphones are a requirement for commentary.

If you're using a headset mic, position it so that it is not in the path of your breath (both from the nose and the mouth).  If you're not sure, put your hand in front of your face and feel where your breath is and move the mic up, down, or to the side until it is out of the way.

Don't count down the RaceBot timer out loud.  Because of twitch delay, the players will not be starting immediately when racebot says go.  So it just causes confusion.

Avoid talking about behind-the-scenes things that are not applicable to the audience.  For example: technical problems on your computer, the commentary stream not loading, popup windows, updates, things coming unplugged, noises happening in the next room, etc.
Behind-the-scenes things that are OK to talk about because they are relevant to the race: what's happening in the IRC channel, players readying up or asking for more time, administrative decisions that will affect the race, the status of upcoming races.

Avoid talking about players' internet issues.  If the stream is a slideshow, do the best you can to commentate it.  Or if you can't see what's going on focus on the other player instead.  It doesn't do any good to talk about how messed up a player's stream is; it only takes time away from talking about the other runner whose stream is working fine.

Avoid language that wouldn't be suitable for kids.  We don't set the "Mature audiences only" flag on the channel.  Many viewers like to listen at work or at home with their children around.  Please try not to make the experience NSFW.

Avoid discussion of politics, religion, or controversial issues.