Block all chat is a symbol that indicates that you are blocking off all private messages. You can turn it on and off by typing /allblock and /unallblock or something like that (it's in the commands list).
Danger area is a buff that shows up in areas such as devil's island or the lair of valakas where you can receive environmental damages.
Grade penalty is obviously what happens when you wear an item you're not supposed to wear yet - it means you will move slower, swing less accurately etc.
Thing is, i was afk the whole night, i didn't trype a single thing nor do i have any grade penalty, i'm wearring D and C on a level 49 toon ... and i'm in Giran ... i shouldn't have any single 1 of these "buffs / debuffs" ... xcept the level 155760892, that 1 i wish i had :D
I actually had something similar happen to me right after I ported to the monster race track, I had a grade penalty, when I'm 66 and all I was wearing was either A or B grade. It was quite odd =/ but right after I unequipped something and re-equipped it went away.
I use to see the grade penalty thing every time I logged in for a few seconds, then it would go away. I've had danger area on in Orfen's lair, devils isle, and siege traps. Sometimes it never goes away, until I restart at least.
Yes, when the game is about to crash or when you get disconnected, you sometimes get REALLY weird effects. Could be that your client got some garbled data from the server just before disconnecting, and that's why you got those buggy messages and buff icons.
Same here everytime I log onto my Prophet I get the Penalty hing come up for about a few seconds well my game is finishing loading and then it goes away once I am able to love my character! I'm not sure why the prophets get it thou?!?