Does anybody else think B&W photography is overused these days?

Tex, no offense but I have to disagree with you regarding this having anything to do with age and previous experiences in the Darkroom.  Why ?  Considering my age, you are just a BOY in comparison.  I have been (trying to do a good job) with Photography for over 60 years with many years in the Darkroom processing and (in my opinion) the B/W vs Color has no consideration in age.

Generally, when I view a (less than good) B/W picture, it usually makes me wonder if the person converted an image (that was not good in color -- for whatever reason) to B/W since a number of Photography (and post processing sins) can be covered up when converted to B/W which usually results in a very poor quality B/W image.

I would tend to believe that some of the B/W being discussed are by the "Younger crowd" that want to experiment and probably have never exposed a true B/W image with a Camera.  Certainly, I have been wrong before.

The main issue with many of the posted B/W images is that they are NOT even close to a quality B/W photo.  Also, B/W is best illustrated as Printed Photos as compared to viewing on a Monitor.  Also, usually an exceptionally quality B/W Photo can be accomplished only with the proper subject and NOT by converting (just any image) to B/W.

I do like excellent B/W printed Photos, however; after changing to using the Canon DSLR Cameras -- exposing in RAW for color, I very rarely convert images to B/W.  Certainly, I have many thousands of B/W Negatives exposed with some of the best Cameras using quality film and personally processed -- so I am NOT without B/W images when needed.  I also have developed and processed many Color Photos in past years.  Digital is somewhat easier, however.....

Many B/W images that are posted are (in my opinion) many times basically ruined due to losing details in the Shadow areas and "Blown" Highlights.

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Vernon...