This is a neat little guide and you made many great points. Dialogue tags, if overused, can detract from a story. This is especially true in deep point.
However, I don't feel dialogue tags are pesky nor do I dead them. I believe they're simply another tool in the writer's toolbox to improve their writing and are sometimes required, as you said. Yet I don't understand why you treat dialogue tags as little demons.
Nonetheless, you make a great many points. I simply disagree with how you treat dialogue tags.
I don't treat dialogue tags as demons. I'm not against them. All I advise is to consider whether or not they're truly needed. Words are words. If they serve no purpose on the page, they're ballast. Nothing more. ;-)
If I was absolutely against them I wouldn't have added the proper formatting of them, now would I?
Ah, forgive me. Some of the words you use such as pesky made me feel as though you were against them save for exceptions. Hopefully I don't misunderstand again!
I call them pesky because when to use them and when not is a tricky balancing act and also because a lot of people seem to have trouble punctuating and formatting them correctly.;-)