They used to use black, but over the years, the became a little salt-and-pepper, and now it's full-on grey.

Don't laugh... it'll happen to you.

ActiveRain font color is aging right along with us oldies here in the Rain!  ;-) 

I think I read somewhere that it's easier on the eyes.

Good questions. Here's another one... why is the default font Times New Roman (I guess) versus something like Arial which is more crisp. 

because they can

Great question, did not notice.

I noticed that too.  It doesn't bother me, I just leave it.  Sometimes when I copy and paste stuff into my post though I have to fix the color to match, that's really the only reason I noticed it. -Kasey

i'm with Debe Maxwell, CRS on that one!!!

Nathan,

Who knows?

That's funny, I've never noticed.

I have no idea.

And me, I am clueless this morning!

I will survive as Gloria Gaynor sang.

It is as some of you suspected. Off black text reduces eye strain when reading on computer screens etc. In addition, the brain scans ahead when we read, often filling in missing words. Times New Roman is the easiest font for our brains to recognize words and allows for the fastest read.

NOTE: When we change these settings, we slow down the ability for our readers to quickly read. When we change the color, make the font BIGGER, add italics to all of it, we create a situation where people have to struggle to get through an article. Something to keep in mind.

Have a great day, all!

Have never changed the color, probably should think of that sometimes.

I wish we could customize our blog settings, at the moment you can create  templates in drafts that you can copy/paste for each category of posts. 

No idea

Good point but not a major problem.

I do find it a little "softer" on these aging eyes.

Alan May nailed this one!

I heard the color of gray is in for 2017. AR is styling, to say the least.

Nathan Gesner - now do I need to say I am getting old?

I am sure there is some sort of science behind this, or they were running out of that color.

Ask Bob Stewart , he will know.

Nathan - I think it is easier on the eyes, and I don't even think about it. I just keep it grey.

I think it is easier to read. I don't know if there is any other reason than that.

I like to use some bold and sometimes will change to black. But it has been working. New clients are way up from my blog

I haven't noticed.  I think the stuff I paste in from my other editor is black by default, so it's not an issue.

I really have no idea. I guess I didn't notice because I change things up anyway.

 I quit doing reblogs because of that gray font color.   There is no way to edit it or change it, even using HTML.

I wish we knew

You just can't please everyone, Bob Stewart !

I just do not know!

Presumably it was a design decision.

I haven't a clue and haven't given it a thought til now!