Said is Dead, or is it?

There is a debate in the writing world that has continued to cycle through many incarnations and has never achieved a clear cut answer. It has to do with dialogue tags: the little phrase after or before the quotations that attributes the dialogue to someone.

People feel very passionately about this and maybe you've heard the arguments. Either you think said is dead or you think it is the only tag to use.

<>

So, you're in the boat of "Said is Dead", what does that mean?
It means that you believe that humans are not monotone and speech is best conveyed through words that symbolize or describe those changes in voice and how things are...well, said.

There are so many lists out there, but here are some examples.
Someone can shout, scream, plead, cry, acknowledge, whisper, snarl, argue, answer, brag, chant, confess, mumble, mutter, murmur, hiss, threaten, warn and whimper... It goes on. People who believe said is dead state that humans do not just say words, they say them in ways that inform us of how they really feel. And when it comes to writing, there isn't a voice in your ear, telling you how the characters are saying their words, so dialogue tags are useful to convey those vocal expressions.

<>

Now let's say you're in the wagon that worships said.
Said is it. There can be no other dialogue tags and anything else is unprofessional.
In this case, many believe that dialogue tags are distractions to the reader. If every sentence ends with shouts or the words are always mumbled and murmured and muttered, then a reader gets tired and  thrown out of the story. Said is a neutral word. The eyes skip over it easily and the tag merely provides us with the knowledge of who spoke the words before going on to read the next part of the story.

<>

Finally, I suppose there is always a middle ground, some people believe in a bit of both. Overdoing dialogue tags creates problems, but so does lack of character when it counts. Said should be used in general with other tags used sparingly and for crucial moments.

So, now that we've skimmed the debate, what do you think? Do you have a preference? Why or why not?