I wonder how many developers would consider using the filesystem as a document store bad practice, but at the same time be happy using mongodb.
It's odd that with the rise of solid, free rdbms' like postgresql (and the current generation of mysql forks) - the general reaction among developers hasn't been to realize that 99% of systems are/should be data-first/data centric - but rather a stubborn struggle to pretend their language supports transaction-guaranteed persisted runtime/memory -- without actually using a real object database like zoodb (for python) or gemstone.
I do think the biggest problem is that it brought everything into the DBA's turf, and made it too difficult for devs to do their jobs without meddling. As long as there is a dev/DBA organizational dichotomy, there will have to be a structural dichotomy in the software (cf. Conway's Law).