I agree the trending page is useless. Whatever is done needs to work on the problems addressed in this post: How To Use Steemit To Trick People Into Reading Your Poorly-Written Garbage.
I do believe the original intent of Steemit was to provide a platform where writing skills could be developed and rewarded. It's not happening!
I’m not sure that will ever happen on steemit.com, but I’m hoping it will happen on other sites built on the steem blockchain in the future.