That requires a level of patience. I haven't seen a whole lot of trending articles that aren't bot assisted. I mean, to consistently have X likes within 10 minutes on a regular, never any comments...
I actually went through the list of people following me, and was shocked to see that a good portion of them were just bots. Which makes it somewhat depressing when I write something, that just disappears like dust in the wind.
I also agree with flagging spam, most of them aren't even creative.
It seems many join with high hopes, but in a system that seems built to game, looks like an uphill battle.
@bmanmcfly - Your right that it's pretty rare to see a post on the trending page that isn't there because of bots. It didn't always used to be that way around here - but that is the current state of affairs. Usually if you search within tags you are interested in ... you can find some great, quality content at the top.