Your point on personal curation beating automated feeds is so true. My old bookmarks have finds no algorithm would ever dig up.

What happened that made you see it this way? I used to defend the system, saying people just missed the blazes. Then I got totally turned around in the White Mountain National Forest last fall. The markers were clear as day at the start, then they just... stopped. Faded paint on one tree, nothing on the next three. I had to use my phone GPS to get back. You're right, it's not reliable at all past a certain point.