[Q] Fonts, Font colors, and garish posts

[Kaystein]

As I plan to be an active roleplayer at some point, this posts interested me.

Knock it off with the eye-searing font colors. They are not necessary in a general discussion thread and not everyone is using the dark theme, causing that blinding yellow to be difficult to read for folks using the regular theme. Note the "Garish Posting" rule in the OSRS.

Namely, while I can understand now that colors aren't really welcomed in general, aside from maybe being used on one or two words for emphasis.. what about roleplaying?

What guides are there to explain how somebody could use fonts, colors, text size, etc. to make a post more attractive while not running into territory where it's considered "garish"?
What differences have to be observed when using the dark theme, versus the regular theme and other background themes?
Is there a limit to the number of fonts that can be used in a single post?
If a specific font or color in my case is offensive, why not remove it from possible use?

Nationstates is it's own community, and I've get this community has it's own unique culture, so please provide some help so other players and I can fit in better.

[Kyrusia]

What guides are there to explain how somebody could use fonts, colors, text size, etc. to make a post more attractive while not running into territory where it's considered "garish"?

There aren't any. I take that back; there is a guide if by "guide" you mean "help" and not "detailed rubric."

Otherwise, if it fails the Reasonable Person™ test, it's garish. Red? Sure. BRIGHT NEON GREEN, BOLDED, UNDERLINED, AND SIZE SET TO 200? Not so much.

What differences have to be observed when using the dark theme, versus the regular theme and other background themes?

We account for this, though so should the users, meaning there's really no excuse to use BRIGHT NEON GREEN, BOLDED, UNDERLINED, AND SIZE SET TO 200, as an example, regardless.

Is there a limit to the number of fonts that can be used in a single post?

Given you can't change your font? No. If you mean colors? Also no - until it's plainly garish to any Reasonable Person™.

If a specific font or color in my case is offensive, why not remove it from possible use?

Because admin has a lot on their plates, and making a rule to cover the very few cases people actually do garish posting is easier than trying to cobble a prohibitive code onto a platform that is already exceptionally modified.

In short: we've managed to survive thus far without spelling out specific prohibitions, and instead relying on the fact that a Reasonable Person™ would describe BRIGHT NEON GREEN as "eye-searingly" garish. It's worked thus far; I don't see it suddenly not working. Especially considering how rare it is for people to actually break that rule, and even when they do, a "knock it off" usually gets the message across.

[Kaystein]

What guides are there to explain how somebody could use fonts, colors, text size, etc. to make a post more attractive while not running into territory where it's considered "garish"?

There aren't any. I take that back; there is a guide if by "guide" you mean "help" and not "detailed rubric."

Otherwise, if it fails the Reasonable Person™ test, it's garish. Red? Sure. BRIGHT NEON GREEN, BOLDED, UNDERLINED, AND SIZE SET TO 200? Not so much.

What differences have to be observed when using the dark theme, versus the regular theme and other background themes?

We account for this, though so should the users, meaning there's really no excuse to use BRIGHT NEON GREEN, BOLDED, UNDERLINED, AND SIZE SET TO 200, as an example, regardless.

Is there a limit to the number of fonts that can be used in a single post?

Given you can't change your font? No. If you mean colors? Also no - until it's plainly garish to any Reasonable Person™.

If a specific font or color in my case is offensive, why not remove it from possible use?

Because admin has a lot on their plates, and making a rule to cover the very few cases people actually do garish posting is easier than trying to cobble a prohibitive code onto a platform that is already exceptionally modified.

In short: we've managed to survive thus far without spelling out specific prohibitions, and instead relying on the fact that a Reasonable Person™ would describe BRIGHT NEON GREEN as "eye-searingly" garish. It's worked thus far; I don't see it suddenly not working. Especially considering how rare it is for people to actually break that rule, and even when they do, a "knock it off" usually gets the message across.

I want to post writing articles in your miscellaneous worldbuilding thread about how to create characters, how somebody could approach building up a fictional world/country, and how to develop a story. Is it reasonable to have headers bolded, underlined, and size set to 150 to illustrate that it's a different part of the topic? No color involved; it's not necessary.

[Kyrusia]

There aren't any. I take that back; there is a guide if by "guide" you mean "help" and not "detailed rubric."

Otherwise, if it fails the Reasonable Person™ test, it's garish. Red? Sure. BRIGHT NEON GREEN, BOLDED, UNDERLINED, AND SIZE SET TO 200? Not so much.

We account for this, though so should the users, meaning there's really no excuse to use BRIGHT NEON GREEN, BOLDED, UNDERLINED, AND SIZE SET TO 200, as an example, regardless.

Given you can't change your font? No. If you mean colors? Also no - until it's plainly garish to any Reasonable Person™.

Because admin has a lot on their plates, and making a rule to cover the very few cases people actually do garish posting is easier than trying to cobble a prohibitive code onto a platform that is already exceptionally modified.

In short: we've managed to survive thus far without spelling out specific prohibitions, and instead relying on the fact that a Reasonable Person™ would describe BRIGHT NEON GREEN as "eye-searingly" garish. It's worked thus far; I don't see it suddenly not working. Especially considering how rare it is for people to actually break that rule, and even when they do, a "knock it off" usually gets the message across.

I want to post writing articles in your miscellaneous worldbuilding thread about how to create characters, how somebody could approach building up a fictional world/country, and how to develop a story. Is it reasonable to have headers bolded, underlined, and size set to 150 to illustrate that it's a different part of the topic? No color involved; it's not necessary.

Yes. For example, though those are =130, I believe. I'd recommend reviewing our other guides as well.