(I copied my post from the "prohibiting spectator chat" thread to here.)
I am thoroughly annoyed at the current prohibition on spectator chat.
The one part that makes some sense to me, is preventing spectator chat _during the games_.
Even for during the games, players should at least be able to choose to allow spectator chat.
For that, I'd prefer a default of allowing spectator chat.
Note that this would _not_ prevent a 2-layer system:
This site could allow an account-level choice,
which determines the starting value for each table.
However, the current prohibition _also_ applies
(a) after the game is finished
and
(b) while waiting for enough players to join
.
For determining where I play, even if it does not decrease the number
of people here, the prohibition continuing to apply to (a) and/or (b)
would at least cancel out the larger number of people here.