When someone open toribash client in the first time it can be also last time
that he open it if he wasnt wondered enough by what he see in game.
And when shaders enabled toribash looks more attractive when shaders off.
I was offerd several times to friends try toribash only one stayed for short time in game. The others (one of them was hardcore gamer) didnt open toribash again. Maybe if shaders was enabled on deafult (without digging in settings) more people were stayed in toribash bcoz its more easy to explore thing
that look more attractive. I know that shaders needs not the lowest specs.
And if shaders will enabled on default some ppl will not stay in toribash
bcoz they opened client on first time and this lagged out. Im not sure
in which case more ppl will open toribash only once. Also maybe the 2 years ago pc/laptop/microwave from specific price segment wasnt able to run and today's devices from same segment will run it. So think about it. Especially in this days when toribash trying to get on Steam.

Add: Maybe shaders must be off like now but on first time need some pop-up window or built-in message in toribash tutorial in client that offers to enable shaders if hardware supports.

If shader is on by default,my toribash would lag like crap,never allow me to open it.What if some of your friends had really low graphics card like mine?

maybe on first open must be some thing that detects what graphics on pc able to do and according to it enable or disable
shaders ...its going to be complicated. its look like its bad suggestion. But anyway i wanted to warn about it that maybe bcoz of shaders off some ppl
are not stay in torbash

1А What do you base your claim "People don't give TB a chance because shaders are off?" come from? Did you conduct a study?
2А Games that detect your PC's performance basically just judge your hardware. If the detection system detects a low-end PC, it would turn shaders off anyway. The people whose game would crash if shaders were on wouldn't get to see shaders anyway because your system would put it off by default.

I hate some shaders because it blocks the chat, and it messes up my gradients, force, and relax color. I use toribash at max graphic, and I suffer a five-second lag when I start my client.

~not supported

No. Today disabled shaders to sure why is other guy have no tranparence on texture. And as usually, when I switch off the shaders, i noticed
the difference. And than I remember that most of my friends didnt give chance to toribash. Than i thought that if it was with shader on, ppl was intersted more
to do first steps.
And yes is bad to kick out on start ppl that have low-End pc but able to become toribash players just bcoz the gameplay. Im personally not sure that I was stayed if in toribash wasnt shaders. Maybe shaders must be off like now but on first time need some pop-up or built-in tutorial window that offers to enable shaders if hardware supports. I'll add it to first post

If people don't give Toribash a chance because they don't like the way it looks, I would rather them not be in the community anyway.

And if it starts with Shaders already enabled, the chances are that people who's computers can't run shaders with more than 3 fps will never give it a chance, considering they can barely use the menu.

Am I the only person that has to disable shaders when I download a new client? I'd rather have them on minimum by default and be given a pop-up dialogue reminding me that shaders can be enabled.

There was a version not so long ago that had shaders on by default (a dev error), and it insta-crashed for everyone who can't use them. Hence why they're off by default.