OT: adduser vs manual file manipulation [WAS: Re: List of users from a certain group]

[Johannes Zarl <johannes.zarl@ahl.uni-linz.ac.at>]

> In general, I suggest using adduser on Debian rather than useradd.
> useradd is the low-level tool; adduser is the higher-level utility which
> is intended to be easier to use.

I always edited the group, passwd and shadow files per hand to 
add/remove/alter groups/users and I never had any problem.

Is there any drawback I missed in using this procedure? Or is this simply 
a matter of convenience?

thanks,
  Johannes

-- 
"More than machinery we need humanity" -- Charlie Chaplin, The Great 
Dictator