I agree with almost everything in this post, philosophically and intellectually. However, any usability study I remember seeing on this subject has always concluded that "click here" converts better. So until they back up any of their suggestions with data, this article gets relegated to pure brain fodder.
Edit: And I'm sure conversions would probably also depend on the demographics of your user base, so I'd be interested in seeing that included as well.
How do we change these behaviors if we don't lead users to it as an industry? Do you want to make the web a better place or just raise your conversion rate? I don't know if there is a "right" answer.
I think its pretty arbitrary to claim that "changing these behaviors" would "make the web a better place".
I think if people think and react in a certain way, there is nothing wrong with that, and web design should evolve around how people act as opposed to the other way around.
Then again I don't work in either any sort of UX or web development, so maybe I should keep my mouth shut here :)
To what extent do you think its possible to change behaviors like this? That is to say, to what extent do you believe people's reaction to this sort of stuff are innate human behaviors and reactions, and how much is learned through interactions to UIs and can be relearned?
And I agree, I don't see how changing the behaviors would make the world a worse place, but I think if you want to make a case for having the entire industry lead users to certain behavior patterns, an argument should be made for why this is actually improving the web, beyond one person's aesthetic preferences.
It is hubris to think that your users should change for you. Usability is about adapting computers to fit humans not changing humans to fit someone's definition of "right".
Edit: And I'm sure conversions would probably also depend on the demographics of your user base, so I'd be interested in seeing that included as well.