Sorry, but for me, they are not easier to read -- italics, underlines, and bold are a much more readable way of emphasizing words, and (where available) should IMHO be used to the exclusion of all caps, except for the conventional usage to actually indicate shouting. (A few uses of capital letters do make long posts more readable, of course: at the beginning of sentences, the word "I", and other proper nouns.)

As for crystal balls, they're hardly necessary; if this convention was one dude's concept, how did he enforce it on the rest of the online world? Its broad acceptance indicates that there's objective truth in it.