I asked this question as an incidental in another thread, but thought it's worth bringing up in it's own right.

The guidelines for posting a thread state:

With all due respect this appears to be a contradiction of terms. Why does it need to say don't use excessive when it says don't use any? Obviously if you don't use any you can't use excessive. But more to the point, why bother to have the options for bold and color in the first place if you're not allowed to use them? Is this like a trick statement as a test of obedience to see who keeps the rules?

You are referring to the How to post a New Thread guide, specifically here:
The "any" part in brackets mind you, is because color is usually more difficult to read. Here's an example: Here's an example

Many users post in color, (even all red) and it's very hard to read.
Black text on white background is the easiest readable text
Color is generally eye catching (even when it's only one word) and takes the reader away from the normal text.

Imagine reading a novel with every few words in color. It would be a mess, and no one would read it.

Best to use no color in the normal standard posts.
I note that the Guides use color, to directly catch the users eye, especially with warnings and highlighting must reads parts

I also note, that your post with ALL color, was one of these difficult to read posts, and that's why I removed the color

In my post you referred to I used the exact same colors as the original article because it was a color orientated optical illusion. Two words referring to color of dots were in the same color as the dots for ease of Identification. The main body of the text was all in the same color, navy, because it seemed easier to read. Not a problem to do the main body in future in black, but I thought you might have let the two single words in color stand, because as you say, they were in color to draw the reader's attention to a particular point.

Be that as it may, I feel that your answer still leaves the question hanging. So that I know where I stand:

Are [COLOR="Purple"]colors[/COLOR] and bold allowed in moderation, or is it a total ban? It has to be one or the other. So which is it?

Lets put it this way

Our Administrator removed all color from all posts (all of them!) last year
I argued that some posts now did not read well, plus they had brackets all over the place

The color was re-instated, but he said. Do not use excessive color, avoid color in all future posts. This was said to all Moderators in private discussion.

I then wrote a guide, and stated similar words
Color should be avoided when possible

Regarding your large picture post, and then the picture was removed (link remains)
The post with color text did not read well (really the pic didn't help)

I'd say extreme moderation, to the point of generally all posts do not have color

With all due respect, your statement is a contradiction.

Generally means in most cases, but not all. The two words can't be used in conjunction with each other.

So, are you saying that in rare cases color is allowed? Or are you saying it's a total ban? That's really a simple question.

If you don't want any color or bold, why don't you just remove the buttons that allow color and bold to be used so it's out of temptations way?

Re
Was this because the pic was too big, or because it was colored? After all, the whole post originated around a moving picture of a figurine which wasn't that much smaller than my pic. Since the pics been removed nobody has read it.

I never said there was a ban on color (or bold)

As I stated the Guides use color, and even the Introduce yourself replies use color
Some posts, even by me have single words in color or bold

I'm saying generally do not use color

And actually I'll go one more step here (which is what happened with your post)
If there is a post with excessive color (ie many words with color) the color will be removed. So here's an excellent way of saying everything I just said:

do not use excessive (or any) color or bold in your post.



Edit:

The pic was too big

Fair enough. I will only use color and bold in moderation.

And I won't go on about it anymore. However, I wouldn't mind the input from a few other members about the use of the word "any" in the context of the sentence in which you've used it... still ambiguous!

So the short version of what has been discussed above (considering I'm the one making this kind of decisions).

We initially decided to do without any color or text format options, however after implementing this change a lot of older posts were broken because the BBcode tags appeared like normal text instead of being parsed, that was the first reason of the revert.

The second reason was feedback from members and moderators who argued that neither formatting or colors were being abused and as such the preventive measure had no reason to be. There were also a handful of occasions where having them was handy so we still have them accessible to this date.

For 99% of the posts we prefer that users don't use either formatting or colors, let alone abuse them with posts that disrupt the reading experience and discussion. In other words, we rather keep posts clean from such elements unless they are deemed necessary.

From a few PMs back and forward with Poppa Bear. I have updated the words in the New Thread guide

Thanks Poppa Bear, for your contribution and understanding on this

Wow! I'm blown away, and almost lost for words... if you can believe that! Thanks Kimsland for using my humble suggestion. I'm really thrilled to bits that something useful has come out of this post, and feel privileged to have been a small part of it.

What I say next is not intended to be patronising, (or servile), because who am I to say what is correct protocol? After all it it is stated in the general guidelines, and rightly so:

However, for what it's worth, in my estimation, the stature of the persons who run this forum has risen exponentially. I've never belonged to a forum before, but I've read plenty and the administrators in most seem to only pay lip service to the feedback of members. You guys & gals really mean what you say and take the feedback seriously. It's a top forum, ethically, for open-minded attitudes, for problem solving, ease of access to information, and every which way. I'm privileged to be a member.

I can truthfully say this is the best forum I've ever belonged to... LOL... (just in case you're a bit slow like me, as I just said, it's the only one I've ever belonged to!).

I also have to own up and admit I was being a bit perverse and nit-picking. As I said to Kimsland in a PM, it's not the letter of the law, but the intent. And the intent was really fairly plain. Please accept my humble apologies.