that's one of the first i've actually heard of "first hand"...lots of folks elude to all the problems people have, but this is the first one I've ever heard of. I'm curious, in what order did you take the bolts out, and how did you go about torquing them...did you take one bolt out, and put a stud in, and torque it to it's first initial torque, or did you tighten it all the way?
Threads like this are people searching for affirmation...most people clearly know the right way, but they want to hear people say "oh it'll be just fine, do em one stud at a time". It is what it is...I can say with much certainty, everyones heads (or nearly everyone's) are cracked, so that takes the guess work out of what the machine shop will tell you, but that doesn't really hurt anything...I've only seen a couple cracks that appeared to go into a water jacket and be leaking water into the combustion chamber. Of cource it's way better to have em milled and cleaned and all, fresh valve job...but that's a given...I don't think people are asking which way is better...but rather "can I get away with it". If someone asked..."would you prefer to have heads with 150k miles on em, or freshly rebuild heads, which would you prefer?" I think time and cost not being an issue, we'd all answer that question the same...but I get the whole "it's way easier and cheaper" argument too, if you do it yourself, all your really out is your time. Honestly, I might try it...all I'm out is time, I'm still somewhat young.
If I had to personally recommened something though, i'd say if it's not leaking or showing signs of a blown head gasket, just wait...it will, in the mean time leave it alone, have fun with it and start planning/saving for a full head rebuild the right way, with a valve job, possibly hardened seats, milled, and valve recession checked, valve height reset. You're not going to be getting the full benefit of the extra clamping force studs provide unless you change the gasket (remove the heads)...gaskets have an initial "crush" where they seal to the block/head...if that's disturbed during the one by one process it could lead to a leaking gasket. That's why I asked what order he took the bolts out in, and what order and torque he installed them by.