Dear Medium, Please Let Me Disable Highlight Feature
(It hijacked my story)
My words were drowning in the sea of moss green. A highlight after highlight covered my carefully crafted and edited sentences, leaving 80% of my Medium story in the green. My text was highlighted almost entirely except for a quote at the beginning. I couldn’t believe it. My heart sank with disappointment. How can I get back my original text in the white background?
It has been one and a half months since I published my first Medium story. I joined the blogging platform with the hope of reaching a wider audience. My readers used to be limited to my email newsletter subscribers. As more people let me know how much they enjoyed my writing, I began to explore other ways to share it.
After contributing several articles to a blog site with a mindfulness theme, I concluded it was not how I wanted to share my content. I didn’t like the frequent ads dropped throughout my articles. It was distracting and hard to read. Some images added by the site were very different in tone and colors from those I used for my newsletter.
I wanted total control over how I presented my content. I also needed to retain rights to my articles so I could use them for my future book. My search for better content sharing continued.
Then entered Medium. I had heard about it but never considered it my option until I read @georgekao’s article, Why I love posting to Medium.com.
“My content will be discovered by more people if I post to Medium first, compared to posting on my own website,” George wrote.
A pleasant writing & reading experience…For the reader, the experience is excellent. Whether they’re reading on desktop, tablet, or phone, the articles look great.
George’s post was clean and easy to read without any ads or pop-ups (no highlights!). I liked the page design and how readers’ comments appeared after one click on the response bubble icon. George is a very savvy and respected marketing expert. I always trust his judgment and follow his lead.
I created my Medium account right away.
Not knowing anything about Medium publications, I self-published my first article, Lunar Eclipse, Grief, and Continuum, on May 16. I was so touched when I read a response from @connie.songwriter (the first response for my writing!). After briefly sharing her experience of grief, she wrote, “Your words are inspiring and so beautifully expressed and truly touched my heart, Surapsari!”
I knew nothing about Connie, but I immediately felt connected with her. I thought it was worth publishing my story via Medium just to receive her comment. It did touch my heart and inspired me to write more Medium stories.
Connie also introduced me to Medium’s highlighting feature. She highlighted my sentences that resonated with her. I appreciated it and did the same when particular sentences in others’ Medium stories inspired me. I enjoyed communicating with my readers and other authors through highlighting — until it got out of control.
743 words. It is the length of my second Medium story. It’s only a 4-minute read but took many hours of writing, editing, re-writing, and polishing. Since English is my second language, the time I have to take to write a 4-minute read is much longer than that of the average native English writer.
Reading online is a whole-body experience. Content has to be appealing to eyes as much as minds. I spent a lot of time searching for a featured image that captured the essence of my story and matched my taste. The time for properly formatting the text and spacing paragraphs for a better reader experience was added to the labor.
I was satisfied with my finished story when I submitted it to a Medium publication. “YES!” I struck a victory pose when my submission was accepted. The editor was very supportive. She clapped for my story, highlighted it, and left her comment in the Response section. I was thankful for her effort.
The story found readers. I started to receive notifications about new highlights. I enjoyed them, but the fourth one alerted me. The sentence he highlighted had nothing to do with my message. It was just an ordinary, descriptive sentence: no depth, no artistic expression. I was puzzled but thought either he made a mistake or had a unique taste.
My third Medium story confirmed my skepticism about highlights. I saw them added to the most trivial parts in the text. I also noticed the same person highlighting (the sentences already done so by other readers) my two stories back to back without leaving any comments. They all looked like attempts to get my attention, so I would hopefully return the favor by clapping and highlighting their stories or becoming their new followers.
This is not what I want to get into.
Every author wants readers for their work. I’m happy to read other Medium members’ stories, clap or highlight them, and give responses as long as they are interesting and well-written. I don’t want to clap or highlight any stories just to help them become more visible. It doesn’t feel authentic.
According to Kieran Tie’s article, Medium launched its highlighting feature in 2015. It gained popularity over the years. Nick Santos, the former software developer at Medium, said this about developing the tool:
Medium is not just a blogging platform, but a community where people interact with each other and become smarter based on those interactions. So the interaction team was tasked with making interactions between users better and more rewarding.
I like and support Medium’s intention but question if the highlighting feature lives up to it.
Yes, it was rewarding to see highlights and responses made by sincere readers. But some members’ fake highlights turned me off. I want to be part of a community where members love writing and reading good stories and articles: a community where we inspire each other, sharpen our writing skills, and grow together. Fake highlights make me doubt if Medium is such a community.
So, here are my requests and suggestions for Medium:
Modify the highlighting feature
To prevent fake highlights, limit the number of highlights a member can add to a story or mandate the highlighter to leave a comment about the highlighted part. I think it will encourage more sincere communication.
Allow authors to control highlights in their stories
I’m sure some authors love seeing their stories covered with highlights. Good — the current highlight tool should work well for them.
On the other hand, I prefer clean-looking texts without many highlights, especially those that don’t add any value. I doubt I’m the only one not happy with the current tool. I would love to have some control over highlights in my stories, either selecting the ones I want to keep or disabling the feature altogether, depending on the nature of my text.
I feel much more rewarded reading responses than spotting highlights. A reader must actually read the story (at least part of it) to leave a comment, while they can highlight without reading it (just pick the sentences already highlighted).
What do you think of Medium’s highlighting feature? Do you like and support or want modification?
Updates
- After publishing this piece, a few readers let me know I would see highlighting made by those I followed. They advised me to unfollow the readers who had done excess highlighting. Thanks to the Medium community for helping me learn how this platform works!
- On July 10, I requested Medium to modify the current highlight feature using their feedback submission system. Thanks to those who shared their thoughts in the response section!
Sari's Newsletter: Tips and inspirations for living mindfully, coping with change, shifting mindset, empowering self, and other topics related to self-discovery and growth. Visit www.surapsari.com or email info@surapsari.com to sign up for the newsletter.