1) That support article was written in the Tiger, if not the Panther, time frame. It's been around since at least 2005.
2) Mucking with this folder's rather like mucking with a Courier mail store, or a MySQL data directory: If you're gonna screw with it, you'd better know what you're doing and how all the pieces work. Apple hasn't published those details, and likely never will, so don't touch it. They've placed it in a hidden directory for a reason.
3) iCloud was never targeted at power users. Maybe it'll evolve at some point, but I wouldn't bet on it. Power users can use Dropbox, like they probably already are. Apple's not doing anything to stop you, there.
2) Mucking with this folder's rather like mucking with a Courier mail store, or a MySQL data directory: If you're gonna screw with it, you'd better know what you're doing and how all the pieces work. Apple hasn't published those details, and likely never will, so don't touch it. They've placed it in a hidden directory for a reason.
3) iCloud was never targeted at power users. Maybe it'll evolve at some point, but I wouldn't bet on it. Power users can use Dropbox, like they probably already are. Apple's not doing anything to stop you, there.