[em-bee]

mistakes happen. it is a testament to the power of git that your command didn't cause permanent damage. and yes, it could have been worse.

but if you want a system that protects you from these mistakes by making mistakes impossible, then you get a system that is very rigit and actually harder to use.

git protects you from these mistakes by making it possible to recover.

in this particular instance though, there could probably be some extra help to recover. (some way restore the removed refs)