I tried without the filter, and indeed we see a few permutations in the ranking, but no large change (in particular as we have the blacklist with the bots).
I am still thinking about what to do with the sqrt metric, that is possibly not ideal. But for now, I have no clue.
PS: the post can also be read on the STEMsocial app. ;)
I think you'll have to try it and see, there's no harm in adjusting metrics in the future.