have you tried the nostr algorithm at https://nostr.thecaptain.dev ?
the goal is to replace follows with community relays and transparent, customizable algorithmic ranking of notes
Off topic thing. I stumbled upon an article that resonated with most of the things you've been saying about the state of nostr and the prevalence of terrible recommendation algorithms we are seeing today. The article isn't directly about that but you could find a lot of similarities to various phenomena that are happening today here
Hope you find it useful:
https://mises.org/mises-daily/anticapitalistic-bias-american-intellectuals