Dead playerscan only team chat?

I noticed my name was in a color even tough I was using public chat,
then i noticed enemy players also had the same colors when they died.

So dead players are palced in a separate team and can't chat with living players?
Hard to say gg that way

It's when the host forgets (or is douche) to check the spectator chat box in the pre-game lobby.

Sometimes it's intentional to prevent cheating.

Dead players in FFAs get full vision. They'll often be douches and tell other players what the person who killed them is doing.

Whoops that does sound sort of insensitive I must be really lucky though, I've only ever had a spec drop info on me once.