Yeah, I got that impression as well, but am hoping there's some way to get rid of it. I can't believe Blizzard thinks this is a good idea. Not only are there already way too many spell effects in general (which Blizz themselves have admitted, and I think they've also promised to reduce the visibility of other players' spell effects, if they didn't already) but this placement is quite possibly the worst possible.
I tried searching on the official forums, but that was an exercise in futility.