> Wired's writing is fine, it's Crystal that's creepy. An unknown proprietary algorithm tells us what to write to our friends?
To be fair, I think it's more aimed at more casual acquaintances whom you haven't gotten to know as well yet.
> EDIT: I should add, I don't see Crystal as bad. I see it as inevitable. People have been blindly sharing private data on the web for a decade because no one used it? People will start using it.
That's nothing - I've been intentionally, publicly, sharing how to effectively communicate with me for a decade - and information about how I communicate.
I can see the ick factor in giving e.g. your local neighborhood spambot this power - but I want to effectively communicate with people. I want to be effectively communicated to. Hell, I even want to be effectively advertizied to - it means they've picked up on how to avoid annoying me and serve my interests (e.g. I click a lot of webcomic ads.)
I have had so many conversations in so many chatrooms where conflicting or just plain ineffective communication styles lead to frustration on one end, or hurt feelings on another. I extol the virtues of reading various articles about effective communication - "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way" [1] and "What have you tried?" [2]. I've even written a few myself to explain my at times abrasive communication style - extoling it's virtues, defending my choice, and just plain explaining my rationale.
[1] http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
[2] http://mattgemmell.com/what-have-you-tried/