Send Anonymous Criticisms from NiceCritic.com

Problem: Your sister-in-law talks too much. Your co-worker has deadly coffee-breath. Your neighbor leaves his barking dog outside at all hours of the day and night.

Solution: Three quick shots of whiskey and one of those ring-the-bell-win-a-prize carnival mallets.

No, no, no, that's terrible! I'm kidding. Kidding! The solution is NiceCritic.com, a site that lets you send gentle but helpful criticisms anonymously.

All you do is pick a category (Appearance, Personal Hygiene, Office Behavior, etc.), choose a canned message from within that category, and then provide the person's name and e-mail address.

Presto! Your criticism gets delivered, the offender adjusts his or her behavior, and the world becomes a better place. All thanks to you.

Seriously, I think services like this are great for dealing with awkward situations in a harmless, non-confrontational way. And, yes, a NiceCritic message may cause hurt feelings, but I'd certainly want to know if my behavior or actions were bugging someone. (I'm really considerate that way. Modest, too!)

My only complaint is that you can't send a custom message--though I suppose there's a rationale behind that. NiceCritic's messages are polite and straightforward; yours might be, um, less so.

What do you think? Is NiceCritic the answer to a prayer, or should people step up and say what's on their minds? Speak yours in the comments.