Needing that many controls to begin with is the real failure.
That kind of thinking is why we can't have nice things.
I want apps that do things for me, not apps are crippled to satisfy some fashionable UX fad-dogma.
Worse is that apparently Medium requires the stupid, and often irrelevant pictures. Apparently some numbskull decided there would be more "engagement" if an article included pictures. So pictures there shall be, regardless of whether they add to the content or not.
They are the photos of procrustes.
What is even worse is that they've started dedicating yet another giant pic for each item/link.
It is a theft of one's time. Normally when I see such design I would leave the site immediately but unfortunately I must actually read some.