Actually, using a shuttle to soak up ESG damage is a classic SFB tactic.
It's not an exploit, as it's working exactly how it should - the 6 pt. admin shuttle will soak up 6 pts of ESG damage.
Dropping an admin to trigger enemy fighters to fire their wad on it is an exploit (it's still not a tactic).
Now, if you want to argue that how can you tell if a shuttle was an admin or actually a SS, WW or pre-blossom Scatter - now you're going somewhere. That's a valid point. And in a sense, firing their wad on a SP or SS is almost justifiable, as they are protecting the ships. At the same time, the fact that they also blow their heavy weapons lessens the value of this.
Something I did want to mention on the flipside of this argument: I also think fighters should be regulated. For example, the vast majority of Hydran fighters carrier by ships were Fusion armed, with maybe only a handful being Hellbore armed.
Of course, regulation here is made problematic in that Fusion fighters tend to fire their fusions at useless ranges. I am not familiar enough with how Hydran fighters work in game to say how much this can be controlled or not. Further, the fact that Taldren fighters don't really fit the SFB mold, it's hard to say what fighters should be carried and my what....
Anyway, I can see both sides of the issue. I just find it funny what people decide is a tactic and what is cheese (by any other name).
Of course, these are just my opinions