Hi Scott, I agree with all you’re saying. But I think even the most traditional disciplines have open access journals and some are of good quality.
I do think open access changes quality standards e.g. How often sthg has been shared on social media. But it’s still possible for them to compete on traditional quality standards like citations, etc.
I just see no connection between subscription cost and quality of a journal’s content! Dependence on peer reviewers means both are questionable, and I see no reason why the (unpaid) peer reviewers of a paid journal will necessarily do a better job than an open access one!