Ban "other" from $HOME and subdirs - Good or Bad Idea?

[GhX6GZMB]

Not sure, but perhaps you missed the subtle aspect to Catkiller's suggestion. Read on a directory isn't always needed. Often, eXecute would be fine.
751 would likely work. Most programs don't scan directories for filenames. They assume both a directory AND a filename. A compiled program will work perfectly fine without read access, just eXecute alone. Scripts need read, since they have to be read and interpreted.

For Mate, it appears that personalized Icons can be located anywhere. In my reading, the example used was ~/Icons/ ... but each program icon still had to be individually setup. Yuck. Appears icons could be placed outside HOME, at least for people in the sudo group. This should allow the functionality you describe, but a more locked down HOME.

You've lost me bit here, but the discussion is interesting.

For /home everything is default. For $HOME only x is set for "other". No read permission. For all subdirs to $HOME "other" has no rights at all. This works.
The exception is the $HOME/.face.icon file, which is used by SDDM at login and needs "r" as "other".