Newyork times article on eVite: The Guest-Host Industrial Complex

Barry Diller is wrecking parties. I may never be invited anywhere ever again, but I must speak out against Evite, his company, for stamping a hideous brand on hospitality.

Evite’s party invitations have been invading the world’s e-mail in-boxes since 1998. In spite of their vapid design, and the way the R.S.V.P. feature fuels status anxiety, about 192 million Evites go out each year. IAC/InterActiveCorp, Diller’s media conglomerate, acquired Evite for a song in 2001. Since then, the company has steamrolled the competition with its juggernaut averageness and threats to sue for copyright infringement. Last year, Time magazine included Evite among the five worst sites on the Web, and the techworld gossip site Valleywag ranked Evite its most-hated company.

Still, none of that deters Eviters, for whom the site’s free party-planning software is the handiest way to organize a gathering without being overheard by bosses or excluded co-workers. Another 16 million Evites went out last month. From the looks of the site’s featured cards, most of those parties were ragers for the Hooters crowd, with ads — I mean “invitation designs” — that emphasize consumption over conviviality. Forget guests of honor or rites of passage: Evite parties celebrate kegs (“Beer Pressure”), cocktails (“Senoritas and Margaritas”) and food (“A Cheeseburger Birthday”). Evite seems also to have concocted formal occasions that make Secretaries Day seem like a High Holy Day. How else to explain “Awards Night,” “Book Time” and “Eco Party”? They are advertising opportunities, it would seem, especially in light of the overt branding of the “Wii Party” and “Let the Madness Begin” March Madness gathering. These events may have been magical, but they could have started on a less craven note.