My wife showed me that this was possible and what happens. In a nutshell, after Helgen, simply do NOT go to warn the Jarl of Whiterun. Wander the world. Visit Solstheim. Complete the Dawnguard DLC. (Though you won't see the two dragons in Forgotten Vale.) You can start the civil war, but you can only take that as far as delivering Tullius' message to Balgruuf. (Jarl B refuses to deal with the message until after you deal with the dragon at the Western Watchtower.) You can complete >90% of the game's quests and during all that time you won't encounter a single dragon. Of course, that also means you won't gather any dragon souls which in turn means NO SHOUTS. And since you hadn't visited the Greybeards, the Dragonborn DLC quest won't start. (Though you CAN go to Solstheim via the boat anchored in Windhelm.) It is entirely possible to keep playing until you hit the level cap limit. And personally, that makes for just as fascinating game as one where you get svcked into the Dragon quest early.

So, how many forum readers here have gone this route?

I finished the main quest once, back when the game first came out. For the rest of my 2000+ hours I've done exactly what you describe.