Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm not coming across all of that sort of junk If you have 1000 subscriptions, your page must be completely full of junk that you’ll never watch? You can’t possibly be watching 1000 videos per week.
That's not the case, but I don't see your logic either. There are far more than 1000 YouTube channels putting out good content. Far more than 10,000 perhaps. Why would I subscribe to a junk channel? I subscribe to topics or people I liked. Many put out a video or two a year. Some put out a video or two a day. I end up with perhaps about 100 videos a day to skim through the thumbnails/titles of, watch a handful.. happ…
Very often a channel has a really interesting video that I like, but the other 250 videos are 'junk' to me. Subscribing based on that single video would not give me good quality recommendations at all.
I enjoy discovering new videos, channels and topics, not just watching the same people or staying within a bubble of my own making. That's where a recommendation engine is supposed to shine, not fail miserably as it currently does. I always assumed this is how the majority of people use (used?) the platform.