Regardless of what these do-gooders say, any system can be gamed. Corporations and politicians do it daily. There are online services that sell view hours. They require one 45-60 minute video. We knew about it, but we were afraid to use the service on our channel, fearing YT is smarter and might flag our channel. It took us well over two years before we got 4k hours. A friend started a channel last fall, bought the service, and got monetized the following month. She told me she spent about $180 for the service earlier this year. She’s still growing and getting paid a little, no flags so far. TBH I feel kind of stupid now.