Chat stopped working for older members of Realms server, and sign text disappears

1. All of a sudden the older members of the Realms server (started about a month ago in 1.19) stopped having their chat messages broadcasted. We still see our own messages at the bottom of the screen but no other member receives them. A new member of the server (joined just 2 days ago) does NOT have this problem. Their messages appear normally, just like ours did before the problem
2. I place sign with messages but the text on the signs disappear as soon as I click done.