It's not clear at all that lack of engagement should be punished. A post can be valuable even without much engagement.
If the ability to draw eyeballs is one criterion by which content should be evaluated for eligibility to be in Trending, then some type of metrics could be useful. Posts that have the ability to attract a lot of viewers from outside of the Steem user base should be rewarded.
Certainly not the be all and end all, but it did help surface a list of potentials, and I see that you have downvoted at least one on the list - maybe not via this post, but as long as we get there one way or the other I guess.
I could not agree more, but if they have attracted no interest on the 'inside', are they likely to be of interest from the outside of Steem?
I've been doling out more than my 2.5 100% downvotes in the past couple of days. It's been a pleasure to witness the face of Trending to transform so rapidly.
It certainly has!