In the context of a registry, that's going to go away. You already asked for it. Of course, when there's money to be made, someone's bound to find a way around these problems. Users can choose from a pull-down menu of retailers or list the URLs of other stores they like. Standing alone, wish lists seem greedy, but put in context, they're just part of the online conversation.
Adults send e-mail greetings, but for important occasions they still send a regular card.
So if online registries are, in fact, the future of gift giving, it may be because the next generation will just never grow up enough to consider them presumptuous. Retailers smell gold in what analysts have called an untapped gift market online, but their cashing in could have unanticipated social consquences. Gift-giving rituals are not as formalized in America as in, say, Asia, where people follow elaborate, symbolic protocols. But gifts are still an important part of how we connect with each other. Altering the way we go about choosing them means altering a fundamental part of a significant process, even if that process is kind of messy and stressful.