How to ruin a lithium ion battery

My trusty Moon 500 XP lamp has given up the ghost following three years of faultless service and the worst thing is, I'm entirely to blame for its demise - allow me to explain and it may save you suffering the same fate.
The Moon lamp relies on a lithium ion battery to kick out its 500 lumens and these batteries require a few specific handling techniques to keep them in top order.
Lithium Ion batteries apparently begin degrading from the moment they are manufactured. They are good for a few thousand charges but they, like us all, have the terrible certainty of terminal demise looming on the horizon.
Unlike Nikel Cadmium (NiCad) batteries, lithum ion batteries don't suffer from the phenomenon of battery memory where if a battery is continually recharged when it's at 50% power, the battery will end up with only 50% of its run time. To combat this, it's wise to run the battery flat and then fully recharge it to maintain it's 100% capacity. Easy.
So, when I thought: 'I think I'll run the battery completely flat and give it a full charge' little did I know that it was an unnecessary exercise.
Not only was it unnecessary, running a lithium ion battery completely flat can result in the cells being damaged rendering the battery un-chargeable. And that's the situation I'm now in.
So, with new battery on order and £20 lighter, heed the warning!