Newbie Listen UP! Do Not Factory Reset Your RootedPhone

Yesterday alone, I received about 6 emails from different people that
bricked their phone just today. I thought for a moment and resolved to
writing the below.
NEWBIES LISTEN UP!

1. Do not, I Repeat DO NOT Factory reset your phone using the phone
settings menu if you have a custom ROM installed on your Android
device or optimus V EVER! Every day  there  are complains  and lo and behold the first sentence I read is "I reset my phone
to Factory ."
2. READ the directions on installing a ROM first before you do it, Not
while you are doing it. If you have questions please ask away a lot of
good people here are happy to help.
3.Learn to be patient rushing something like this will only cause you to
be the proud owner of an expensive paper weight.
4. Make a backup first before flashing a new ROM even if you didn't in
the past it's only a matter of time before something breaks. Don't get
stuck without a backup.
5. DO NOT Factory reset EVER! I don't care if you did it on an old phone
or if you did it with x rom and nothing bad happened. Why even take
that risk to begin with?
Hopefully this helped someone new so I don't have to roll my eyes and
groan because I'm reading yet another "I bricked my phone email or
comments"