I have shamelessly savescummed migrants or Starting Seven (aborting embarks) to get characters with personality traits I think are more interesting or useful. (Although I guess it's better than naming bridging them...)
I have never made a serious, long-term fort in an evil biome.
I have never embarked on a completely aquifer-covered embark site in a serious site. I always have some tiles without aquifer to gain all the benefits of free infinite water with no possible creature spawns without the need to avoid a few layers. (I have done non-serious "chicken run" digs through aquifers that drain into the caverns, but those are for non-serious forts, due to FPS concerns.)
I have abandoned the overwhelming majority of my megaprojects and carefully-sculpted shape forts to boredom.
I have never made a generational fort, or any fort lasting more than 10 game years.
I have never embarked in the ocean.
I generally just rely upon traps (even elaborate cart-based ones) rather than deal with the stupid military screen.
I have never built a magma piston.
I tap the caverns once, then seal them off pretty much forever unless I need water and have no other source (again, aquifers). I set caverns to only 1 layer in worldgen for FPS and because I wouldn't deal with them, anyway. I pretty much never do anything with FBs. They just sort of loiter under my fort.