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[UristMcHuman]

I'm among those that love aquifers, btw.

Me too, to an extent. I make my dwarves live like humans do, and by reinforcing this, I've made them non-[ALCOHOL_DEPENDENT]. So, yeah, aquifers are a nifty infinite source of water. Fresh if you're far enough inland, salty if you're either on an island or if you're close to the shoreline.

If I'm trying the Cave Challenge or if I'm trying a normal dwarven mountain hall, however, aquifers are a HUGE pain in the ass. ESPECIALLY if they're more than one level. I never did manage to pass through a multi-level aquifer.

[ohgoditburns]

Caves make the cave challenge way easier to start.  There's typically 2-3 trolls living inside, but once you get past those (you did bring a military, right?), you can move right on down to the cavern.

[thegoatgod_pan]

Aquifers off isn't cheating, using aquifers in all the ways they can be used is practically cheating--easy waterfall fun, free water, in a cold map, limitless ice--what's not to love? 

[Saint]

They're usefull for draining water and getting infinite water. Pros and cons with them.

[UberNube]

It isn't cheating for one simple reason:

You can achieve the exact same result (a nice site without an aquifer) without any modding if you are simply willing to waste more time generating worlds and hunting for aquifer-free spots. There is no risk to doing this, it is simply boring. Since boredom is not a desirable effect of a game, especially not DF, it would seem simpler just to mod out aquifers and save yourself some time. This also applies to any other world-gen-related mods, such as making a 'crush rock to sand' reaction for maps without sand (since it's impossible to search for sand in the finder).

[The Merchant Of Menace]

Yes it is cheating.
You should delete DF from your computer and never play it again.
In fact, you should format your whole harddrive and hit yourself on the head with a hammer so you get amnesia and forget dwarf fortress even exists.
Sick bastard.

[Girlinhat]

I have advanced worldgen that gives me flat, forested areas with no aquifers and plenty of resources.  Why?  If I were playing without this, then I'd spend an hour searching for a flat, forested area with plenty of resources.  If I play with this, then I spend 2 minutes finding a temperature I like and I'm playing.  I'm picky, I understand this, and I'm just cutting out a lot of time that I would be wasting looking for a site otherwise.

More on the topic of "is advanced worldgen cheating" I would say no, and aquifers are a form of this because they alter the site choices.  Ultimately, you're going to A: Find the perfect embark rarely, B: Settle for what you don't want, or C: Stumble upon something astounding by accident.  A finely-tuned worldgen will give you A: Perfect every time, and make you happy with whatever mood you happen to have.  Want a terrifying glacier?  Do it!  Want a good swamp?  Easy!  Want to play a purely random world and find a mountain by an ocean with a volcano?  Lol, good luck!

If you tailor the site to what you want, then you get what you want and you start playing sooner, and you can pick exactly what you want.  If you feel like playing a certain thing, you can play that thing within 10 minutes of getting the idea.  That, lets you spend a lot less time combing the map, and a lot more time drowning elves in magma.