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I have another submission for most annoying UI problem: Trying to read a thing, but it's on medium.com. The sheer amount of popups and overlays I need to click

I have another submission for most annoying UI problem: Trying to read a thing, but it's on medium.com. The sheer amount of popups and overlays I need to click away before I can actually read your thing, geez.

sevensor 1y ago
The worst is when somebody has a custom domain, but it’s actually medium so I don’t know not to click on the link.
LeifCarrotson 1y ago
The sheer amount is zero with an ad blocker enabled. I consider UBO basically mandatory for browsing the web in 2025, too many sites are unusable and infuriating without it.
- warp 1y ago
  I had two popups visiting that medium link with uBlock Origin. Perhaps it is possible to get zero with UBO, but default settings don't seem to be enough.
  - ziml77 1y ago
    I think you need to enable the Easy List Annoyances filters.
  - Onawa 1y ago
    OP might also be using a list like the "Anti-adblock Filter". You also might want to explore the settings of UBO as there are more lists titled "Annoyances" that you can enable to shut out further garbage. https://reek.github.io/anti-adblock-killer/ https://reek.github.io/anti-adblock-killer/
carlosjobim 1y ago
Your browser should be set to open all pages in reader mode.
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  Some sites seem to be able to disable reader mode. I'm not sure why browsers allow this but it happens often enough, reader mode just isn't an option on some sites. In firefox you used to be able to do something like: about:reader?url=https;//www.example.com But seems that doesn't work anymore.
  - carlosjobim 1y ago
    You can force reader mode in Safari with Command+Shift+R But results may vary.
monkeyelite 1y ago
Sometimes you see reductionist comments about websites just being for displaying text - but for medium it’s true.
pmarreck 1y ago
Reader mode is a thing, but if you can suggest a better (ahem) medium to repost it to, I'd be happy to! (Honestly, I'm sort of with you on the medium thing, but I posted this years ago now...)
- kagevf 1y ago
  Maybe substack?
  - emaro 1y ago
    Or Ghost. The reading experience was so good on Medium a couple of years ago.
    - baq 1y ago
      Analogy to Dilbert’s/Peter’s law: saas will be enshittified until the marginal revenue gain of next enshittification level is 0.
    - pmarreck 1y ago
      Nice! I made my first Ghost post! https://in-the-beginning-was-the-command-line.ghost.io/the-most-annoying-ui-problem-r3ditm/ https://in-the-beginning-was-the-command-line.ghost.io/the-m...
      - zzo38computer 1y ago
        This is one reason why I prefer keyboard-based UIs that do not automatically change anything that affects the UI while the UI is active (and being able to select things by entering a number or a name also helps, rather than having to use the arrows). (I also dislike touch-screen for many other reasons.)
      - kagevf 1y ago
        > EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that these misclicks/mistaps are a source of ad revenue haha ... looks like "follow the money" applies yet again to get to the root cause ...
graton 1y ago
One of the reasons I set Kagi to "lower" results from medium for my searching.
ajot 1y ago
I redirect to scribe, though that only works with medium posts https://scribe.rip/@pmarreck/the-most-annoying-ui-problem-r3ditm-31773fe6bbd5 https://scribe.rip/@pmarreck/the-most-annoying-ui-problem-r3...
evelant 1y ago
Brave browser on mobile and desktop. I don’t think I’ve dealt with annoying ads or pops for years.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
zzo38computer 1y ago
Sometimes you can disable JavaScripts and that works (for that document on Medium, this works for me). Sometimes that doesn't work, but if you disable both JavaScripts and CSS, then it does work. Sometimes that does not work either.

sevensor 1y ago

The worst is when somebody has a custom domain, but it’s actually medium so I don’t know not to click on the link.

LeifCarrotson 1y ago

The sheer amount is zero with an ad blocker enabled. I consider UBO basically mandatory for browsing the web in 2025, too many sites are unusable and infuriating without it.

warp 1y ago
I had two popups visiting that medium link with uBlock Origin. Perhaps it is possible to get zero with UBO, but default settings don't seem to be enough.
- ziml77 1y ago
  I think you need to enable the Easy List Annoyances filters.
- Onawa 1y ago
  OP might also be using a list like the "Anti-adblock Filter". You also might want to explore the settings of UBO as there are more lists titled "Annoyances" that you can enable to shut out further garbage. https://reek.github.io/anti-adblock-killer/ https://reek.github.io/anti-adblock-killer/

carlosjobim 1y ago

Your browser should be set to open all pages in reader mode.

SoftTalker 1y ago
Some sites seem to be able to disable reader mode. I'm not sure why browsers allow this but it happens often enough, reader mode just isn't an option on some sites. In firefox you used to be able to do something like: about:reader?url=https;//www.example.com But seems that doesn't work anymore.
- carlosjobim 1y ago
  You can force reader mode in Safari with Command+Shift+R But results may vary.

monkeyelite 1y ago

Sometimes you see reductionist comments about websites just being for displaying text - but for medium it’s true.

pmarreck 1y ago

Reader mode is a thing, but if you can suggest a better (ahem) medium to repost it to, I'd be happy to! (Honestly, I'm sort of with you on the medium thing, but I posted this years ago now...)

kagevf 1y ago
Maybe substack?
- emaro 1y ago
  Or Ghost. The reading experience was so good on Medium a couple of years ago.
  - baq 1y ago
    Analogy to Dilbert’s/Peter’s law: saas will be enshittified until the marginal revenue gain of next enshittification level is 0.
  - pmarreck 1y ago
    Nice! I made my first Ghost post! https://in-the-beginning-was-the-command-line.ghost.io/the-most-annoying-ui-problem-r3ditm/ https://in-the-beginning-was-the-command-line.ghost.io/the-m...
    - zzo38computer 1y ago
      This is one reason why I prefer keyboard-based UIs that do not automatically change anything that affects the UI while the UI is active (and being able to select things by entering a number or a name also helps, rather than having to use the arrows). (I also dislike touch-screen for many other reasons.)
    - kagevf 1y ago
      > EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that these misclicks/mistaps are a source of ad revenue haha ... looks like "follow the money" applies yet again to get to the root cause ...

graton 1y ago

One of the reasons I set Kagi to "lower" results from medium for my searching.

ajot 1y ago

I redirect to scribe, though that only works with medium posts https://scribe.rip/@pmarreck/the-most-annoying-ui-problem-r3ditm-31773fe6bbd5 https://scribe.rip/@pmarreck/the-most-annoying-ui-problem-r3...

evelant 1y ago

Brave browser on mobile and desktop. I don’t think I’ve dealt with annoying ads or pops for years.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

zzo38computer 1y ago

Sometimes you can disable JavaScripts and that works (for that document on Medium, this works for me). Sometimes that doesn't work, but if you disable both JavaScripts and CSS, then it does work. Sometimes that does not work either.