I Get Super Irritated by This Medium Feature: Any Way Out?

Why would anyone consciously spoil beautiful pages of text?

When James Bellerjeau offered the Perlmutter Maneuver as a service, little did I know that I’d be one of the first victims of his newfound business on Medium.

However, barely a month later, it is clear that business is booming for him — and his Medium side hustle has finally kicked off.

As he explained himself:

The Perlmutter maneuver: we spring into action, immediately highlighting every word of their every article (except for three subheadings, for variety), driving subsequent readers mad with highlight fatigue.

If you missed the story, don’t worry: I’ll embed it below, at the end of this piece.

In the meantime, as you’ve already guessed, I’m referring to the busy business of highlighting and how the staff under James’ employment are hell-bent on making life difficult for me and other well-meaning members of the scribe band here.

The Story That Was Baptized With Highlights!

Sometimes back, I shared a story that detailed my online journey, spanning over a decade, and things I wished I had known back in 2013 when I started.

Because of how central the story was and the benefits it was likely to confer to readers who came across it, I pinned it right atop my profile.

This has exposed the story to every pair of eyeballs coming to my profile but has also ensured another form of strange blessing: the baptism of highlights.

As can be seen above, the headline and sub took the first assault — and every other thing followed, classically.

With the boss and his 2i/c already pinned down, the rest of the story’s text fell like a mud-held multi-story building engulfed in torrential floods.

It is beautiful, in an almost cruel manner — when you look at it, divorced from the engagement it symbolizes.

It also remains a pointer to something more recurring — one I had missed, prior.

The Issue That Went Unnoticed for Long…

I rarely pin stories — and generally, hardly go back to old stories.

On the rare occasions when I do, it is to link up and I don’t usually bother with the walls of text, therein.

However, with this story pinned — and remaining pinned for some time — I had the privilege of checking up on it from time to time and that was when I discovered the unusual, dense highlights.

Curious, I checked my other stories that had recorded similar success and to my surprise, their overall state was the same…

…I had simply failed to notice it on time.

The Highlight Fatigue Effect

Highlights are seemingly innocent — and here on Medium, an interaction metric.

The more they are, the merrier, obviously — to your pocket.

Your eyes and mental health are very likely to disagree, however.

One look at a thoroughly highlighted story and my ‘scared’ eyes want to click away; like walls of text without whitespace, my brain gets tired fast when forced to read over highlighted material.

I spoke to a few other writers about this and it appears I’m not alone.

The ‘Evil’ That Can’t Be Avoided

Ironically, this ‘evil’ cannot be avoided: I highlight myself, especially when a line resonates deeply with me or I want to comment directly about a specific point.

I keep it at the bare minimum though…but it is easy to see the challenge here…

…what resonates deeply with me may not particularly strike a chord with R C Hammond.

Now, if I highlight just a sentence, RC also highlights and 20 other readers do so and each has a different favorite sentence, where does that leave us?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t make sense to call for its abolition…

A Desperate Call For Help

James, please, call your staff to order and I promise you, I’ll become a convert, believe and preach the good news of corporations being inherently good (even the wicked ones)!

Please, ask them to highlight selectively, at the very worst— and only do so when the text truly hits home…and stop highlighting the entire work (like overzealous workers eager to impress their boss).

In the meantime, any suggestions that will not anger James or compromise his business (but will help me clean up some of the highlights so that subsequent readers don’t fall asleep while reading the ‘affected’ stories) will be welcome.

I understand James needs to run a business but mine too, needs to stay afloat: I have numerous mouths to feed!

Here’s the original story of James, mentioned at the beginning of this piece.

While I’ll appreciate it if you read it and interact (I’m sure he will, too); please, don’t share it with your friends here (they may join his staff strength and their first assignment might be you) and for the love of all that you hold dear, please, don’t also consider becoming a staff of his Enemies of Medium Corporation yourself (and targeting me).