Do people just not use the YouTube subscription feed?
I consistently hear people on YouTube complain that the subscribe button doesn't do anything for viewers, now that channel notifications are controlled by the bell. But it does do something: it puts the videos from that channel in your subscription feed, which is readily accessible on all versions of YouTube. So why do people act like it doesn't exist? I think it's super convenient, especially if you're subscribed to a ton of channels and don't want your notifications feed flooded with new videos.
It's not about the bell, with it Youtube also introduction the algorythm to the subscription feed and essentially made some videos not show up consistantly anymore if I am not totally wrong (it's been a while and I was a lot younger back then)