I've often come across posts on forums or other websites where you see people joking in such a manner about running/logging in as root as if it's something awful and everyone ought to know about it. However, there isn't much that a search reveals on the matter.
It may be widely known to Linux experts, but I really don't know why. I remember always running as root when I first tried Linux years ago (Redhat and Mandrake) and don't remember running into any problems because of that.
There are actually some distros that have a bright red background with alert signs all over it as wallpaper for the root user (SuSe?). I still use the "Administrator" account for regular use on my Windows installation and haven't ever run into any problems there either.
It defeats the security model that's been in place for years. Applications are meant to be run with non-administrative security (or as mere mortals) so you have to elevate their privileges to modify the underlying system. For example, you wouldn't want that recent crash of Rhythmbox to wipe out your entire /usr directory due to a bug. Or that vulnerability that was just posted in ProFTPD to allow an attacker to gain a ROOT shell.
It's just good practice on any operating system to run your applications on a user level and leave administrative tasks to the root user, and only on a per-need basis.
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