Black is a bit stark, but I prefer it to white by a long margin. It's easier on the eyes.
Thanks to the advent of high-DPI displays on mobile devices, dark backgrounds with light fonts are more acceptable than they have been in the past. Unfortunately, desktop computing remains largely stuck in a low-DPI purgatory (only recently seeing disruption with the arrival of low-cost 4K displays). As long that purgatory remains, desktop computing is more amenable to light backgrounds with dark text. The reason for this is that generally, with low-DPI displays, small fonts (< 20px or so) will be rendered with a single-pixel stroke weight. A single-pixel stroke on a dark background is harder to visually resolve than a single-pixel dark stroke on a light background.
To-date, designs that use dark backgrounds have typically used bold or semi-bold fonts to compensate, but this is generally over-compensating, making all text look too heavy. (Browsers only recently started offering semi-bold.) High-DPI displays allow for normal-weight fonts to look clear when rendered light on dark.
I hope the trend toward darker backgrounds continues as more displays become high-DPI. When that happens, I want more user interface elements beyond the browser to use a light-on-dark motif as well.
I wish more sites would adopt dark designs. Easier on the eyes and saves energy. When you spend 8-16 hours in from of a monitor every day those become important factors to consider.
It depends on the type of screen you're using and whether it's actually black - rbg(0,0,0) or just dark. In some cases, yes, it saves energy, some not.
Not to mention it's just a breath of fresh air design-wise (when executed well), unlike the massive sea of indistinguishably homogenous 'light-themed' sites...
EDIT: I can't believe people seriously downvoted you for that simple comment. The pedantic negativity this community is filled with is ridiculous sometimes.
Which can be (and was) remedied by a simple reply to correct that one particular part. Indiscriminately pedantic downvoting on the other hand, just kills the potential for any fruitful discussion all for the sake of some silly minor mistake. Luckily, more people came in and got the comment out of the grey zone in this case.
Netflix recently redesigned to an mostly-white interface and I can't stand it. Harder on the eyes, boring, and less-recognizable as the Netflix brand. Their old color palette was perfect for their product.
