Chatbox spam detection negatively affects Deaf users
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GHØSTQUEEN
For Deaf users, the chatbox is a primary communication method. Typing text is equivalent to voice chat for hearing users.
When typing at a normal conversational speed, the chatbox frequently triggers spam detection and applies a timeout. This occurs during regular back-and-forth conversation, not intentional spam.
As a result, Deaf users are temporarily prevented from communicating at all, because our primary communication tool becomes unavailable. This creates an accessibility barrier where none should exist. This is not an improvement, but a big step backward in accessibility for Deaf players. I do not use TTS, so chatbox access is essential.
Please excuse my English, as British Sign Language (BSL) is my first language.
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Rycia
This has been such an issue for a long time. I'm primarily a ASL/text chat user in VR with a pretty high typing speed due to my many hours actually using the chat box in VR. Yes, you can get a similar typing speed to that on Desktop if you spend enough time in VR.
I noticed some time back that people would tell me they're not seeing my messages. I didn't know why. I would send a message and then see it not show up or it would seem like I'm skipping messages because of some sort of limiting or what I thought was a bug.
Recently I saw this spam message under my chat box. This infuriated me because text chat is my sole method of communication to non-ASL users, which is the majority of people. It told me exactly what was going on for all these months that I thought my messages weren't sending, especially if I'm having a very serious conversation, like helping a friend in a tough situation, I would always end up with my messages getting skipped.
I agree with there being a spam filter, however:
1) It need to be more lenient, if not user-definable.
2) There needs to be a new option where you go to mute someone/hide their chat, between "Chat Off" and "Chat On," called "Chat with No Filter" where people can enable your chat box to not be subjected to the spam filter.
3) A option to globally disable the spam filter, subjected by default.
If this is server based, it absolutely has to be moved locally with a very small spam filter threshold server-sided, eg. no more than the updates provided by the option that allows you to update your chat box as you type.
This negatively impacts any user that likes to communicate, even with a BELOW NORMAL typing speed, drastically. Remember, If someone's spamming, we can already just turn off their chat box already.
This hurts anyone that uses a text box. If the text chat is inhibited when you're trying to use it for it's intended purpose, then there's no longer a reason to even have text chat at all.
GHØSTQUEEN
Rycia I agree with your point. We already can mute someone’s mic or hide their chatbox manually if they are spamming.
But instead, they decided to add spam timeout! That is why it feels unnecessary. It blocks normal conversation completely, not just real spam.
Slone Fallion
I'm glad this is actually getting attention now that the notification has been fixed. This has silently been happening for much longer. My SO points at the chatbox and make a breaking gesture whenever she gets timed out (if she realized it before the notification; otherwise I had to tell her). She has previously commented on this feedback post from 2024: https://feedback.vrchat.com/bug-reports/p/chatbox-rate-limiting-too-aggressive
She is a physical/medical mute and being unable to type organically with the keyboard on a regular basis, while seeing other users as walking billboards with OSC chat software, is very disheartening too her.
FYI, this happens whether the "Send Text Automatically" feature is enabled or not.
bitsbops
adding a comment for activity as well. I have a mute friend who is greatly negatively impacted by the recent timeout update for chatbox. this needs to be rolled back.
4Bakers
oh that's a FEATURE? I thought my chatboc was broken because it wasn't notifying me at all
Cattuccino
I recommend a time out should happen for repetitive messages over lets say that have been going on 10 mins long and massive sizes.
plasticbeetle
I really hope they don't remove OSC functionality for the chat box. I use it to live caption what I say for a friend of mine. I also just despise how the VRChat keyboard works, so I use OVRToolkit's with OSC. I feel like manual reports for chatbox spam are the way to go. We already have the ability to individually mute and hide user chatboxes.
GHØSTQUEEN
plasticbeetleI agree. I don’t personally use live-caption tools because they feel too robotic for me and don’t carry tone, emotion, or personality the way real conversation does. But I completely understand why others rely on OSC features.
I’m not asking for OSC to be removed. I just hope the system can return to something closer to manual reporting instead of automatic timeouts that silence normal conversation.
StormRel
marked this post as
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StormRel
Merged in a post:
Chatbox unusable as a mute
stgiga
When typing at conversational pace in lieu of being able to use the mic (I can't due to domestic problems), the "Timed out due to spam" happens, yet people are still having OSC music player chat text without it (I don't find that intrusive but I can see how some would).
WubTheCaptain
Sephyくん
I know my typing speed isn't even that high and this happens. Vrchat, please just add a report for chat spam, not a timer that pings off if you happen to speed out a response to someone.
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