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Comment by will_pseudonym | Hacker News Reader

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will_pseudonym

> I have a habit of selecting and highlighting text on computer screens, while reading.

"There are dozens of us!"

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Hi, fellow compulsive selectors! Thanks, I am no longer feeling alone!

The hardest part is to remember not to do it when sharing screens...

I still do it, for emphasis. Never had anyone complain thus far.

Glad also to feel justified at last!

Me too!

Developed this habit as a kid on a Mac IIcx in 1992. Hard to break.

Me three, there are many dozens of us!

Compulsive selecting while reading, and hitting CTRL+S every couple seconds while editing documents, are the two "weird" habits I couldn't kick for decades now. Most of the time, I'm not even conscious I'm doing those things; I only notice when the text isn't selectable or the program pops up a modal in response to CTRL+S.

I am with you on CTRL+s whenever I am using ANY software that saves upon pressing CTRL+s.

Seriously! Same! Relieved to know I'm not alone in having this quirk.

Some of us were even actively selecting and highlighting that text as we were reading it! ;)

Hell yeah, I did that!

Ya'll gaslighting me? I tried to do that, and found it didn't work, which was just wonderfully ironic. I ended up verifying there's a `user-select: none;` in the actual `select-text.html` styling that is indeed disabling text selection. Was it added later for shits and/or giggles?

Myself, and I think others, were referring to highlighting the text of your comment. You're indeed correct that the original posted article doesn't allow selection.

Ahh, that would make sense.

Join the club, we have compulsive mouse habits.

(am a member of this select club)

I vaguely remember hearing an anecdote about how UX researchers love people that read like that (or at least just use their cursor to keep their position while reading/navigating): Camera-free eye tracking telemetry :)

Plus knocking on the desk when I finish a sentence, too.

This made me chuckle.

Such a relief! But it drives my wife completely crazy.

I think there are way more than dozens of us.

me too!

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