Could someone please give me a few pointers on what script(s)/app(s) keep recreating the "~/Desktop" directory after I explicitly remove it? It sticks out like a sore thumb in my custom file system and I'd ideally like to configure a new default directory in its place to avoid removing it completely.

I've looked at the *plasma*rc scripts in ~/.kde4/share/config but did not see anything that stood out.

I'm using KDE 4.3 installed via pacman.

It might be what is configured in System-settings->Personal->About Me->Paths.

Change the "Desktop Path" option, and see if that does the trick.

Thanks for that my friend. Exactly what I was looking for. Cheers!

FWIW the config file is ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs