Since when is using a tag other than "Said" bad?

Absolutely you must cite sources. We take intellectual property rights very seriously here.

 

Ok, Cogito! Thanks for the heads up.

 

...so, did you actually help him write it, or what?

 

A classic example of that: I understand that when Stephen Fry was recording the audio book version of the first Harry Potter book, he complained to Rowling about the number of times Voldemort "hissed" something that had no sibilants in it whatsoever, which was a nonsense to read out loud. I understand that she paid more attention to that in later books.

They are tools, but be careful not to use a sledgehammer to put screws in. Dickens was a terror for that sort of writing, using unorthodox spelling for the speech of uneducated characters when in fact standard pronunciation would have matched the unorthodox spelling perfectly. If you have a character whose first language isn't English then perhaps you can have them make a few slips that help the reader spot their speech-turns. If a particular turn of phrase you give them then distinctive you can make them, but care you must take or else like Yoda they speak. It's something you can salt dialogue with, but we all know the effect that too much salt has!