Recently, our studio, Different by Design, decided to completely ban typing quirks. I know some users see this rule as ‘unnecessary’ ‘sudden’ and ‘unfair’ however, it was necessary for accommodation and accessibility of the chatroom. I’d firstly like to touch on how it was not at all sudden. We had been slowly implementing restrictions on typing quirks, leading up until this point. Allowing typing quirks makes our studio less accessible and hinders the experience for some users. Banning them has no negative impact other than “ruining” the cosmetic aesthetic of your messages. Typing quirks were not banned for no reason. Some screen readers read Unicode aloud or completely glitch out, making it harder for blind people to access the site. Some typing quirks alter the lettering and make it impossible for screen readers to read, people with dyslexia to read, and also for people who are still learning the English alphabet. Some typing quirks mess with tone and make it hard for some neurodivergent people to discern it. The only benefit of typing quirks is cosmetic value and personal aesthetic. The bad weighs out the good. That is why they were banned from the studio.
You can find Different by Design here: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/37069320/comments/ EXTRA: Please ignore the 2016-esque background, I had no better one
