a way to fix it.
1) go in the chat room into a room with few people.
2) click on 'rooms' and get into a diffrent room
3) now it should work
If u want to talk in room X dont go to room X at the begining . Go to room Z and then move to room X and the problem is over.
I've found that if it says "You are now talking in..." you can double click inside of the chat window a few times (keep closing the dialog box that pops up) and you'll be able to see what you're typing. If "You are now talking in.." doesn't show up, then you're S.O.L. You won't even show up on the side.
I'd like to see this fixed because it's quite an annoyance.