I'd say turning EVERYTHING to 100% definitely counts as a "don't". Master gain controls everything, spring force is the maximum force and periodic effects controls all the effects you feel and those are pretty much everything you really need. I tend to add some damper and you can experiment with all the stuffs if you want to, but generally you don't need any of the extras and some combinations and settings can definitely lead to "interesting" end results.
Basically the way the system works is that the configurator settings define what your stick "is" and in-game settings define what it "does". If your spring force in configurator is 50%, any games will be able to adjust the spring force between 0 and 50% of the Rhino's maximum. You can start by upping the gains and spring force to the max to get a feel for what the Rhino can do. This will not break the base (I won't guarantee anything, though), it will simply cause more heat to build up and the Rhino will know what to do when that happens. Then adjust the settings (spring force in configurator) to what you like and go from there. If this causes too much heating and you'd rather not have the fans kick in and the stick reduce forces automatically, keep adjusting until you are comfortable.
One way to adjust the effects settings is to set them to 100%, make the potentiometer adjust periodic effects, go fly and keep adjusting literally on the fly until you're happy. With the other settings you can of course experiment to your heart's content, but I'd suggest that at least initially you leave everything alone unless you really feel that you need some damping or friction. And always after applying settings watch out for weirdness, hold the stick firmly and keep one eye on that big red button.
