That seems to be the general attitude about it on the internet. I understand why people have that opinion. They believe it is safer for the fish. They have the best intentions.

But in practice, I think that fishless cycling has some very real flaws. I participate in other forums as well and I've seen a lot of people really struggle to make a fishless cycle work. They struggle for months sometimes. I've also seen people go through the full process and everything looks good, and then they have problems when they add their fish anyway.

I've done several fishless cycles, and I think the method has its place in the hobby. But it's not my preferred method.