[WhyNotHugo]

Agreed. What op wants in this case, is for XDG_CACHE_HOME to default to ~/cache when unset.

The idea is quite reasonable: suddenly all tools that show disk usage will show this directory clearly and you can easily find what’s eating up you space with the same usual tools as always.

[Macha]

I think they'll find they're in the minority on that opinion, so they should just set XDG_CACHE_HOME, and maybe symlink ~/.cache to ~/cache for those programs that have just hardcoded ~/.cache

[mystified5016]

Are dot folders actually a problem? I have show hidden files turned on globally everywhere always. I don't really understand how people operate otherwise.

[WhyNotHugo]

So it sounds like having them hidden is a problem for you, given that you've disabled this behaviour globally.

Some folk just don't want to configure every single application to unhide them (or have no idea that they exist in the first place).