I know this may be hearsay, but I've been using pylint and have been generally pleased with the results. I don't take everything it says as the ultimate source of coding standards, but it will pick up on some silly mistakes one might make and generally make my code more maintainable.

Granted, I'm still in University, but I think your disdain for automated code quality tools may be misplaced. Instead blaming the tools, why not blame the community as a whole for engaging in arcane coding practices.