[Brian]

Merged a couple of threads and re-titled the combined thread to hopefully make this info more find-able.

In general, this post remains up-to-date; while automatic sync does offer more convenience when it behaves well, it also means letting other apps invisibly modify data in your trusted system. We implemented sync as an active step so folks are aware when other apps may be modifying their data; this gives them the best chance of catching a problem when it happens.

Of course, we do have a feature request open on auto-sync, and folks can email the support ninjas to vote for it. So far, though, there are other features that have more votes attached to them.