10 Aug
1999
10 Aug
'99
10:16
* Jeff
This is the biggest reason. If you absolutely need to do something as root, is it so hard to switch to a different virtual terminal and log in? Or just use su, or pop up a new xterm, and su there, or whatever. It is two seconds, and you don't have to worry about what you might do to your system when you are just using your computer.
You forgot to mention "sudo" (Serie "ap"). "man visudo", "man sudoers", "man sudo". Really hardly any need to use root.