That is what smart people do - they do things that work.
Why on earth would you decrease your success by 20-30%(I'm guessing) by using less appealing headlines?
Clickbait doesn't devalue the articles. It only presents problems for websites like HN, but here it is already moderated.
Because you respect yourself and your audience enough to be honest, even when dishonesty could attract more eyeballs to advertisements?
The purpose of a headline is to get more people to click so that they receive the value you've created. If your headline is a little less compelling - fewer people will receive the value, the world will be a little worse off. So if you believe in your ideas, and care about expressing them - you do whatever it takes to convey them successfully. Utilitarian ethics.
You know you are competing with a huge amount of clickbaity entertainment, so if the things you create are high quality, it makes sense to do things that won't predictably cause you to lose.
I understand your point of view and why you'd find this distasteful, and, personally, I don't use as much clickbait as I probably should. But my opinion on this stuff has shifted over time, so I just want to express it.