Motivation is a tricky beast. There have been times where I read every single log line as it flew by, trying to understand the details, optimizing stuff. There have been times (more recently) where I simply don't look at any information of the node, aside from "is it still running". Nowadays, I just do what feels right, without any plan. If my motivation drops too low, I'll close the node. Luckily, there's a lot of automation going on behind the scenes, so my motivation would need to drop quite a lot.

I stopped opening channels to new peers a while ago, mainly because I haven't figured out how to find good peers. I experimented quite a bit over the years, sometimes with success, but not in a satisfactory and organized manner. Due to the size/popularity of my node, I get lots of channels from (for me) new peers, and I just keep those that are worth it. I need to take good care of my sats, and having them sit idle in useless channels isn't worth it - which is why the number of channels might be rather low. The channels that remain, however, are good (or new).

If I take a closer look at the top channels while including bidirection traffic (i.e. incoming traffic also counts as "good" if it leaves through a channel where I charge fees), the top nodes for the past 60 days are, sorted by profitability with the best peer listed first:

I guess you could say that larger nodes are better. Keep in mind, though, that not all large nodes are good peers. I've cut some ties, and I will cut more.

Regarding profitability: keep in mind that this involves quite a bit of risk (hot wallet, "beta" software). Furthermore, running a routing node takes quite a bit of skill. If this were an established industry, my salary would be more than what any reasonable node could earn - risk and other costs aside. It's a hobby. I'm fine with smaller nodes as peers, but ultimately, they tend to hog my sats more than larger nodes do.