I think that if you really have something to say, you'll write it. And when it is supposed to be advocacy or educational, you should also try to make it a) rich in content to be gripping and b) short enough for people to bother reading it. I've read countless of texts along these lines and I enjoy learning something.

On the other hand, when you have nothing to say, you can often obscure your lack of thought by making a list of things. Because then if it's longer than 10 items, each item is so short that there is virtually nothing conveyed by it. And even if at some point there was a rationale to it, the statement has been clipped to the point where all possible nuance is gone and what remains is a tired cliché that doesn't say anything.

Just like this fabulous list of 101 tips to improve your "online presence". What a priceless repository of knowledge this really is. For example what about #16 Tell your friends about your site. It’s free advertising init. By golly, never occurred to me. That should bring another handful of people around, most of whom are probably not interested anyway. Or #15 Add a link to your site in the signature of any forums you post on. The sheer ingenuity of this plot, can you believe it? Quick, register on as many forums as you can! The list as random as it gets, and the ordering is too.

You have your pick of utterly irrelevant things like #40 Avoid proprietary technologies like Java and Active X. Yeah, cause your users really care don't they. That is, they might... not, if they actually knew. It's a bit like saying "don't use a screwdriver to put up that lamp, no one will come to your house". Or why not #43 Contribute to related subject areas on Wikipedia. Well, it's nice to contribute anyway. #42 Learn about CSS. It’s the new HTML. Er... no, it's not.

My favorite has to be #48 Become a leading authority on your chosen subject. That should keep you busy for anything between ten years and a lifetime.

Well, the list goes on like this and it's utterly useless. If you're concerned about your "online presence", you probably know all the factual stuff, and you can safely ignore all the stupid suggestions. #37 Giving away an eBook is an excellent way to generate word-of-mouth about your site. Uh-huh.

Well this list is particularly rubbish, but it's pretty close to the standard. Long lists of tips on web promotion and money management (those seem the most popular), apparently written by people who are superbly successful and for some reason have decided to spend their time making long, useless lists about it.

And how redundant am I for making a point about redundant lists? :P