diff --git a/src/as/com/threerings/crowd/chat/client/ChatDirector.as b/src/as/com/threerings/crowd/chat/client/ChatDirector.as
index 6c91dbf38..abbdb9677 100644
--- a/src/as/com/threerings/crowd/chat/client/ChatDirector.as
+++ b/src/as/com/threerings/crowd/chat/client/ChatDirector.as
@@ -751,7 +751,7 @@ public class ChatDirector extends BasicDirector
             return text;
 
         // check to make sure there aren't too many caps
-        } else if (tlen > 7) {
+        } else if (tlen > 7 && suppressTooManyCaps()) {
             // count caps
             var caps :int = 0;
             for (var ii :int = 0; ii < tlen; ii++) {
@@ -826,6 +826,14 @@ public class ChatDirector extends BasicDirector
         return text;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Return true if we should lowercase messages containing more than half upper-case characters.
+     */
+    protected function suppressTooManyCaps () :Boolean
+    {
+        return true;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Check that after mogrification the message is not too long.
      * @return an error mesage if it is too long, or null.
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/crowd/chat/client/ChatDirector.java b/src/java/com/threerings/crowd/chat/client/ChatDirector.java
index c9eae79d8..5597c10c7 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/crowd/chat/client/ChatDirector.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/crowd/chat/client/ChatDirector.java
@@ -814,7 +814,7 @@ public class ChatDirector extends BasicDirector
             return text;
 
         // check to make sure there aren't too many caps
-        } else if (tlen > 7) {
+        } else if (tlen > 7 && suppressTooManyCaps()) {
             // count caps
             int caps = 0;
             for (int ii=0; ii < tlen; ii++) {
@@ -898,6 +898,14 @@ public class ChatDirector extends BasicDirector
         return buf;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Return true if we should lowercase messages containing more than half upper-case characters.
+     */
+    protected boolean suppressTooManyCaps ()
+    {
+        return true;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Check that after mogrification the message is not too long.
      * @return an error message if it is too long, or null.