The opposite of this is Facebook where I was one of the original users and spent over $100,000 in ads only to have my posts get 5 or 10 likes on them. I prefer the relationship with the amount invested and if we get some circle jerks going on, I think that is up to the community to regulate. In all fairness I have one going with my friends I talk to them about the posts I most want to see and vote their posts up all the time to help motivate them to keep contributing. If we want better results I think the answer is to encourage ideal formatting and highest quality within whatever friend voting circle jerk groups exist! I gave it to my friends straight because I have the most valuable account that I am not voting shit up. They better do a good job and they get a vote proportional to the quality. If others have lower standards and paid to play, we can help encourage higher quality or help discovery of posts work more effectively than just the trending page and tags.