Brett wrote in post #9568836
Exactly. I hate actions that just perform the action on the "background" layer (I know I should duplicate it first, but I often forget). I love actions that do everything in separate layers, then bundle everything in a layer folder, so I can change opacities, blending modes, mask at will, etc.
Plus, I've learned a lot from using actions. If I like the effect, I'll play the action step-by-step to see what they're doing to achieve the effects. I've been able to ditch some actions because they do things I don't like, and add the parts of them I do like to my workflow.
I still suck, though.

Exactly! That drives me nuts too! I have some actions I need to go through and add a history snapshot to...then I can go back to where I was PRE-action!
MCP actions quickie collection is a good one.....most of those are just adjustment layers and they don't all work on the background layer.