Good questions, and thank you for your help. Are there other commands you suggest that would be easier to demonstrate the send/receive is working properly? I did try adding /help and .help but that also doesnt show anything.
I did add timestamps (just to the Console.WriteLine output - they are not included in whats being sent) to try and show more clearly when things happen.
Yes, the first send is right after the connect. But you will notice the “PitGirl is love.4/22/2022 9:05:08 AM” message is sent before the commands, and that does show up properly in the chat.
In this run, I wait until 9:06 so the ?slash command tries them again well after the connect/join. You can see in both cases the “Sending slash…” and “Commands sent” messages that wrap the commands are showing up in chat as expected.
Yes, I wonder if the reader is reading correctly as well - but it does get everything else: the messages on connect from :tmi.twitch.tv, the PRIVMSG from robertsmania to call the ?slash command, the subsequent PING, etc…

