As was stated above. Anything you do within the confines of the game is not an exploit. I am even starting to soften my view on the slave collar thing.
The only thing I voted yes for was hacking the files.
As your crusade continues, be careful not to ruin our game by shouting at the developers until everything is fixed to be very uniform and straight forward. One of the appeals of this game is the wacky stuff you can do. The quirks and weirdness is what gives this game character. And if you do succeed here, stay away from the Dwarf Fortress forums please.