Problem is, if you want videos Youtube is most likely your only option. TikTok hosts only 5min snippets, it's better (or worse) at addiction explotation. Vimeo doesn't host videos you probably want. Nebula (and other subsrcibe services) are great but what if I want a conference talks?

To torture the analogy. This isn't sneaking in the free buffet. It's the option of only free buffet in casino offering stuff you aren't allergic to. But then forcing you to play some strip poker to get in. Sure you can pay to get in, but what guarantees I have they won't force gambling on paying customers or further deterioration of the free experience?

In other words, YouTube is giving you something you value but you don’t to follow the terms of the agreement. Just be honest and say that rather than trying to invent these weird narratives to try to make it sound more noble than freeloading.

"In other words" why not address their actual words? Youtube is giving us something we value, but that does not justify any given demand Youtube comes up with. There's nothing noble about blindly accepting the terms of a monopoly.

YouTube is not a monopoly and you can easily live a perfectly happy, normal life not using it if you hate ads that intensely or, since you clearly like it quite a bit and are not willing to consider alternatives, pay 1-2 coffees per month.

Since you took the liberty to replace slot machines with "casino's free buffet" - an especially disingenuous misrepresentation - I mean do you want to say that people go to casino for food, and when I specifically avoided using the word casino... Can I go ahead and say that you all are acting like addicts being called out? I mean, did I use say we should block YouTube?

Talk about the "lengths" people go to defend their addiction. This is my general impression of the lot here on HN. You guys are so deep into cult of bullshitting that normal argument feels like an attack and invites downvotes.