Sort of like self voting with an alt account? Nothing is actually harmed, but it just smells bad?
I'd think sooner or later that problem would tend to be self correcting. Irrelevant is a powerful tool.
Just for the record, I've never hit trending. I'll bet I haven't been there more than three times on Hive and two of those were accidental clicks.
Depends how large the stake is. When there is 1M HP behind it and it is doing it literally 10x a day, 7 days a week for years on end - it isn't great.
I don't visit Trending for content, more for research :) Though, it would be lucky to see me once a week.