You missed the point entirely. Harassing me into signing into iCloud shouldn't mean I ever have to do anything inconvenient at all, regardless.
I wasn't presented with a dialogue that said "login to establish device ownership". Instead it was "login to iCloud now" dozens and dozens of times. I have never once used iCloud nor will I ever. That part alone was indefensible. But then locking the device to that account is plain stupid and reckless. There are plenty of scenarios where this fucks people worse than having to choose from a few shitty options