Upgrading gnome

[O Bedford uni-koeln de]

On http://www.gnome.org/start/gnomerpm.phtml?dist=redhat
I read the following:

When reinstalling or upgrading an rpm package installation, also remove your home
directory GNOME related directories (.gnome, .gnome-desktop, etc.) to prevent
possible startup conflicts with the new version.

  Isnīt all my personal configuration saved here? How am I then expected
to retain my configuration between upgrades?

  Oliver