If Everything is Highlighted, then Nothing is Highlighted
Go easy on the Markdown to help the person reading your request.
Maybe we’ve all made the mistake, earlier on in our careers or university days, sitting down to read something with a hot cup of coffee and a highlighter. We make the rational decision to use that highlighter every time something important comes up. We see the first sentence, great opening, yep, lets highlight that one. Second sentence, great follow up!! yep let's highlight that. We continued this way and then at the end we look down at our page and see that a majority of it is highlighted, and we have no idea what is the actual important part.
Its kinda like that old soviet saying “If something is everyone’s responsibility, then it is no one’s responsibility”, but in our case applied to our trusty highlighter.
I see a similar thing happening in workplace communication with the overuse of markdown. Previously found mostly in StackOverflow or GitHub threads, its become mainstream in common products like Trello and Slack. And Slack’s new toolbar has removed any friction to using it. Less friction is usually better, right. In this case, I’d say no.
This is particularly problematic because unlike the university paragraph highlighter, slack messages and Trello cards are meant to be understood by someone else. Communication is a two-way exercise, people forget that and think that by verbalising or writing something that its automatically clearly understood by the recipient and the sender can wipe their hands, job well done, while the recipient nods their head, maybe or probably not understanding anything. (This is why people send speech messages, because it's way easy for them as the sender, regardless of how confusing it is for the receiver). People forget to write so that its clear for the person reading it. While it’s clear to you what your mega markdown format-code means, its gonna confuse those reading it.
I don't want to be a markdown-nazi and tell people how to use markdown correctly, that would be pretty arrogant. I’m just saying to use it concisely clearly, and sparingly. I know that's subjective, but if your Trello card or slack message looks like a stream of consciousness crossed with a Jackson Pollack, you’re not doing yourself any favours.
