I agree, these posts would have gone a long way to show newbies that "bewb posts" aren't the only way to reach the top of trending. Building a strong reputation is. I noticed a lot of negativity on steemit.chat yesterday, particularly in the #postpromotion channel about this same topic, so this is very much on the minds of many right now.
We are all humans, and want to make trends out of incomplete information. Here's hoping more learn the lessons of perseverance and hard work!
Yeah, I would hate for someone to get discouraged and give up after only a week.