It's by design. The files are your preferences, not the application's preferences. A lot of people throw away the old app bundle when they download a new versio

It's by design. The files are your preferences, not the application's preferences. A lot of people throw away the old app bundle when they download a new version of it for applications that don't update themselves. It would be an infuriating user experience and absolutely absurd design choice if dropping the bundle in the trash also erased the users' preferences.