While I fully understand, and try hard to refrain from making such comments, given that the actual point of this article is about stress-relief, but it leverages design patterns which are genuinely awful for accessibility and positive, consistent experiences on the web, it does actually feel topical to me.

Put another way, I do not believe this is about a “tangential” annoyance.

All the best,

-HG

Right. It's front and center; kind of the most obvious talking point about the article. It arguably generates a much stronger visceral reaction than the actual contents. That's why it's such a bad pattern.