As to the online notifications it is fairly inhuman (although every denial letter and most acceptance letters are auto penned) and I'm sure one of your friends will get a fake like the one below. Note to parents: You can call the admissions office and request a hard copy instead of an email, this is especially easy if your child is a legacy.
The reason I don't like online notifications is not that they are impersonal. I mean, they are no less personal than a typed form letter that schools send out.
I guess I just don't like the online notifications because it is not how I have imagined the experience being. I have always wanted to experience waiting for the postman to come deliver the envelope from my dream school. Then I open it in the kitchen with my parents behind me and run out into the street screaming. :roll:
Colleges do still send letters. They just tell you online a couple of weeks before. And in most cases there's not really a way to avoid the online notice and just wait for the letter. Not that I would have the patience to do that anyways.