from yanking a device *could* in theory kill it. (And if you google you'll find it happens in practice as well.)

Click to expand...

No, you don't have to go far. I have a Mac LC whose ADB ports are dead because I accidentally hot-plugged them.
AFAIK, these are the ports not to mess around with:

- ADB

- SCSI

- power ( )

- floppy disk

Again, AFAIK, these ports can be hot-plugged:

- video

- serial

Knowledge for the above list has come from personal experience, hear-say, and reading the Apple manuals.