Is Norfleeting considered an effective strategy?

[sushiboat]

I did a search on "Norfleeting" and was surprised to find hits beyond this thread. Apparently it is more commonly known as "mad castling" (i.e., building a fort in every province you own) and is widely practiced by advanced MP players. Some see no problem with it. Others don't like it. I don't see how it can be abusive or unbalancing since it is available to all. However, it does seem to slow the pace of the late game. People also complain about the cheapness/easiness of the Ghost Riders ritual spell, and mad castling is a logical counter to Ghost Riders.