new channels

I'm not really in the market for new channels, but occasionally I'll sub to one when a channel I like refers one. Good channels tend to recommend good channels.

it doesn't stop showing channels you don't care about

I just unsub.

gives all channels the same value

I don't sub to enough channels to matter, just enough to have 1-2 hours of decent content every day, a bit more if there's a big event or something.

subscription feed prioritizes... more videos

Unsubscribe fixes that.

If my channels were available elsewhere, even if that elsewhere charged a nominal fee, I'd leave YouTube. Imo, most of YouTube is trash, especially the top channels, so I'm really not interested in whatever their algorithm thinks I'll like. I like medium sized channels that produce high quality content make most of their money from merch and Patreon, not the clickbait nonsense channels that whore themselves out for views and sponsors.

Some favorites:

• Gamers Nexus - PC gaming news
• Level1Techs - cool IT hardware stuff (mostly prosumer and small scale enterprise)
• Not Just Bikes - discussion about transportation infrastructure
• Louis Rossmann - right to repair
• Tech Ingredients - cool applied science stuff that I could potentially DIY (I never do)
• Sci Show - cool science stuff
• John Stossel - libertarian short form journalism
• Digital Foundry - technical video game analysis
• Audit the Audit - high quality police interaction analysis

Each of those are generally high quality and have minimal nonsense (intros/outros, long sponsors, etc).