I see little hope for the Trending page, bots or no bots. The larger issue is with the rewards pool and the sharing of this resource, which is being increasing slurped up by accounts related to these 'services'.
Even if Trending / advertised posts can be hidden, this will still be happening in the background unless code changes or changes in mindset take place. I'm not holding my breath, as the (few) vocal accounts tied to these services continue to believe the are providing a good thing.
I am curious about your own use of bots. In the past you have purchased botvotes. You know I feel that harms Steemit, but also recognize the extant milieu in which it is done, so have not criticized folks that do it directly, including you. I do continue to work to inform people on the harm botvotes do, however.
Have you changed your practices?
Thanks!
I have purchased a lot of votes in the past Knowledge has helped me see the wrong in my doings.
Nowadays, 18+ million SP votes at 100% every 2.4 hours:
https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@abh12345/how-much-available-sp-is-there-for-steemit-com-content
At this point, I would rather it be done in secret, as the efficiency of going this route will never be as draining as the bot situation.