[videoappeal]

Statistic is flawed. Most people who use the default white themes probably dont read HackerNews, dont care to optimize their setup or routine. Those that read hackernews with a woren out F5 key are likely to be heavily influenced by the dark theme propaganda (screencasts etc..) that swamp HN. Just saying.. I can draw any reasonable conclusions from your stats, or even my own devil's advocate view.. Does it matter?

[tlrobinson]

"influenced by the dark theme propaganda (screencasts etc..) that swamp HN"

The thought of people consciously using screencasts to promote their dark theme agenda made me chuckle.

[mhartl]

Shhh... Don't tell everyone! The editor screenshots and code samples in the Rails Tutorial book are light because dark was too jarring against the surrounding text. The screencasts, on the other hand... Mwa hah hah!

[rgoddard]

This reminds me of the discussion on the where are people located survey and how self reported data like this is essentially worthless. Since the only conclusions one can draw from this sort of survey is that of those who responded 63% prefer the dark background, and that there are people who like light and those who like dark. Further generalization is meaningless.