As far as social news sites go, Reddit remains my favorite. Easy to clock, painless registration, and a fairly easygoing overall vibe. (Those Digg denizens can be a bit unforgiving.)

Someone over at Reddit is also not afraid to skewer the consult-speak being spun up in the midst of Web 2.0’s attempt to define itself. They crafted a faux punch list that sounds perilously like a lot of the advice coming from “industry experts.”

The insights are either ludicrous extrapolations of solid basic ideas (e.g., use larger, readable font), worthless pseudo-tech advice (tag maelstrom—brilliant!), or a hasty push for monetization. Sure, it’s a gag, but if you hear a group of self-proclaimed Web 2.0 pros talking as follows, give ‘em the bum’s rush:

Interesting site, but the team has some thoughts on how to better leverage your core competencies. Luckily, your site fits nicely into the new paradigm, but there some things that will need to be changed before we can take the plunge:

1. Focus groups revealed that the logo with reflection is much more appealing than just the logo.

2. Adding a greek character (alpha, beta, etc.) is a great way to signal to the market “hey, we’re not quite done right now, so don’t judge us.” We thought using “gamma” would really set you apart as a website that’s on the bleeding edge.

3. Tag clouds are ubiquitous in Web 2.0, but why can’t we push the envelope? That’s where the tag maelstrom comes in. This would ideally be animated in Flash.

4. Bigger font sizes, bigger icons—bigger is better. Everyone can claim that they’re making a site easy enough for your grandmother to use, but how many have got one easy enough for her to read?

5. Gradients. Solid colors not only scream Web 1.0, they also don’t correlate with user happiness, but gradients do.

6. Ad space. You guys seem to have a total disregard for revenue, let alone actual profit. There’s prime real estate on the top of your page being wasted on headlines that could be used for Google ads. They don’t even have to be relevant, just as long as they are big enough to accidentally get clicked on.