You have to drink it neat to really enjoy the taste. I tend to drink them all straight or with a cube of ice.
Well.... only if you like cask strength whisky. The Glenlivet is 60% ABV. For most people anything above e 50% has too much alcohol which limits the amount of flavour they can taste. Furthermore it depends on the type of chemicals that are delivering the taste. Some prefer to aggregate around water molecules than alcohol so taste is affected by dilution.
Whether taste is improved or not by dilution is personal preference IMO. Remember also that most whisky is diluted down to 40-45% anyway by the distiller. Do you prefer the taste of the same whisky out the cask or after the distiller has added water?
Also, you put a cube of ice in it? That changes the taste out of the bottle (since the water dissolves). It also lowers the temperature at the top of the glass and lowers the volatility of the whisky, i.e. there will be less smell coming off the whisky, which... affects the taste.
All that said, I tend to agree with you: I prefer not to dilute but it's worth experimenting with a few higher ABV whiskies to see if you can improve the range of flavours you perceive by adding a little water. It's certainly a good reason to drink some whisky.
At the end of the day, though it's all down to personal preference. If someone wants to stick the equivalent water to whisky in their glass because it optimises their taste and enjoyment, then that's fine. Although I will call them a barbarian for doing so!
