I've stopped going into chat apart from the very occasional comment/question exactly because of the aforementioned points. I'm sure it has stopped quite a few old timers from joining in.
Of course you can't talk about jewellery all of the time and an occasional 'how are you' conversation is natural, but it has really got out of hand recently and I'm fairly sure the current state of chat is not what the Bennetts had intended. They lost a potentially very lucrative magazine article because of the topics on chat at one point. They've tried to stop it and also tried to ban requests from chat in the past, but I notice that there are now many requests (some in capitals!) and a lot of whinging even though there is no longer any interaction with the presenters. The loss of interaction might well be one of the reasons for the current state of chat and I think it has, therefore, lost a lot of its relevance. I'm very pleased they've brought back the opt out button, though I do often watch with the sound off so really appreciate Mira's contributions.