I'm creating yet another user account at yet another site. The site is asking me for the usual yadda yadda secrets, like mother's maiden name, to use for a password reset.

The question in my mind is if these are secret enough to use for a password reset, why should I tell you? Sharing a secret makes it not a secret any more, and having a common secret like your mother's maiden name ensures that it is shared. Any time you give a good secret to a site like this you destroy its effectiveness.