But the whole point of coming here is I didn't want to use the website and give them engagement.
I think part of the problem is that when everyone is pulling in different directions, the effect of people like me boycotting using Reddit entirely to try to make some kind of dent in their use statistics basically ends up doing nothing.
If you're "defending" your banner, meaning refreshing and adding inputs on a regular basis, you're providing a ton more engagement, views, and clicks, as well as getting other Reddit users more entrenched in their defense of their stupid website, than any other possible activity you could do on that site. So thanks, I guess.
The worst case scenario for r/place is a world where everyone just sits in their corner after populating it at the start. Zero stories, boring, people no longer want to engage. What you're doing? Dramatic gold.