I recently had a script create a file named "~" when I passed it a value for an installation directory. Without thinking the next command I typed was the one in the title. Luckily this was not my main computer and was a virtual machine.
It does not seem likely a user will ever intentionally type `rm -rf ~`. Deletion of home directories usually takes place as another user. Most of the arguments used for the addition of --no-preserve-roots and the `rm -rf /` safeties also seem to apply in this case, as just as one could erroneously type `rm -rf / directory` one could type `rm -rf ~ /directory` (or even the impressive yet redundant `rm -rf ~ / directory`). R0b0t1.
