I hate-hate-hate colored speech text.  Why are quotation marks not good enough?  I don't need colored speech text for books, why should I need it for roleplaying?  It makes me feel like I'm reading a MySpace page circa 2001.  And the effort it takes to go in and color-tag all the speech in a post is just annoying, especially when it's broken up into smaller parts, as my character's speech often is.  Not to mention the hassle of editing your post once the color-tags are in place.

It's just a headache.  Why do people love it so much?  I just don't understand.

Personally, when I read a response or reply from someone I find that if it isn't in coloured text I just take it as a thought. But when it is in colour it highlights to me that they are talking. However this could be just because I'm used to it, as when I read a book its different.

Also, I don't go back and edit it in. I usually type it as I go, saves a lot of time for me like that.

If it's in quotes, it's speech, right?

For me, especially as a gm, it allows me to see what is speech easier when sifting through long or numerous posts.  It's great for players to give details on what their characters are thinking or feeling, or exactly what they are doing.  But if I need to write multiple NPC responses, it really helps to be able to easily see exactly what is being said.  I think it also helps to be able to give different colors to different NPCs, to let players differentiate easier.

In reply to Machiara (msg # 3):

That is how I always assumed.

I typically only use color speech voluntarily if it's to denote more than one speaker in my post.

Doesn't bother me, I figured it is so you could pick out speech easier from actions and thoughts.

Then again different gms have different rules on speech and thought colours.

I'm with Machiara on the whole "coloured text for speech" thing - I don't see the point in it. Books don't have different colours to show you who's speaking, they have the speech in speechmarks and a suitable description to inform you who it is who's speaking. I find coloured speech just irritating, really.

I embraced it when I seen others were doing it. While I don't mind in general reading a book without it. The site itself, and especially if it is a long post. It is sometimes difficult to read everything the way it is there with some of the spacing. So the color does really help, and sometimes tells my brain that this is stuff I need to focus on a little more. Sometimes if it isn't there, the speech can blend into everything else for me.

Unfortunately for either side of this, it is a preference of the person typing it out. As a GM though, you can request that someone not use it in your game. But that is really the only thing you can do. I was thinking for a moment there was an option to turn that off for your side at least, so you don't have to see it. But I think I am thinking of another site or something else.

Books do not do it because colored ink is more expensive in both material and labor.
Whether I agree with it or not, that is the reason why books do not do it.

As a GM I use the colored text to represent different people talking within the same post. As I am not a literary genius the colored text is a tool that simply replaces a form that has been used in years.

This
Post by Bob: "I think I'll head to the store."

is the same as
"I think I'll head to the store." Said Bob

No different
This message had punctuation tweaked by the user at 23:57, Sun 01 Feb 2015.

Well, apart from the fact it's in colour and is therefore kind of distracting...