I have decided to remove Hide_Speech_Bubbles because it causes more trouble than benefit to the game. If some speech bubbles are detrimental to the enjoyment of the game we need to optimize those situations. But speech bubbles in general are here to stay.
Given Issue 5037, I'd really like to see this reopened and fixed. As far as I can tell, it's the only speech bubble interaction that (when Hide_Speech_Bubbles is set to true) creates problems for experienced players. I understand that Issue 5004 says this isn't possible but I'm confused as to why that's the case.
At minimum, the adom.cfg file should note this issue since it's confusing to untangle if you don't know what the problem is.