Terminology:

Exploit via American Heritage Dictionary

"Noun: An act or deed, especially a brilliant or heroic one.
Verb: To employ to the greatest possible advantage:
To make use of selfishly or unethically
To advertise; promote.

Obviously, the noun part of this word does not apply. The verb part is perfect. To use the greatest possible advantage is relevant,

Now the way these things are promoted by evony and certain players here, to make use of selfishly is not relevant as any player could do this, which makes it legitimate. and as all players can do this, it is not player or clan specific, then...well wait we need another definition:

Ethical: Being in accordance with the accepted principles of right and wrong that govern the conduct of a profession.

so ethical would only apply if only a certain group or clan could do it,since anyone and everyone could do these things, it should stand to reason that any of these things were not exploits. So at worst the game could be patched to not allow this anymore, but there should be no punitive damages for anything since anyone could do them...whether they chose to or not is beside the point...the ability to do it was there