Part of romance is often a sense of shared values and purpose.

So is a good business partnership.

The exchange of gift certificates is a bit too intellectually mediated for my tastes.

Agreed. It is, dare I say, unromantic according to some huge chuck of the population.

Thoughtful because it required some time and consideration? Sure. Creative in a shaking up the status quo sort of way? Yep. Rational in a utilitarian sense? Yes, sir.

Romantic? Only if you want to redefine traditional/classic romance to mean something else.

You could substitute any holiday and any relationship in Gleb's article. It's not like giving to charities on behalf of another in lieu of exchanging gifts is a novel idea (my family has been doing it for years). He just wrote it and pretended it was a good display of "romance" because Valentine's Day is coming up.

But I wouldn't pooh pooh it out of hand - and I'm generally a cranky old pooh pooher.

This wasn't my intention. I actually think Gleb gets too much resistance on LW for his efforts. This just seemed off to me, and kept seeming off the more I thought about it. So I commented.