> Totally see where you are coming from, and as a consumer I try to avoid any video that smells like clickbait.

same.

i watch a lot of youtube. i pay monthly for it, so i don't have to see ads. i've seen linus tech tips videos come up in my recommendations a time or two, and i am never going to watch them, just on principle. boy do i ever hate the mugging and pimping people like him indulge in, in an effort to bait me into watching.

3Blue1Brown and channels of the like are the ones I gravitate to. Unfortunately a lot of things on YT are based on bad news and exaggerations selling better than more reasonable content

Yeah it is, and once people grow they stop making that quality content in favor of the churn