While browsing Trending (and thinking it might be nice if posts turned over more quickly in and out of Trending, to give more small authors opportunities), I immediately noticed a post with a title that sounded a lot like the spam vacation rental junk mail I received when I owned a home: ![Booking Team 1.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVF8GLdxsYsFdUsA146dHLYLRswtBjwRxhye2DAmAnwQU/Booking%20Team%201.png) *This was the 9th post down in trending.* Here's how the post opens: *"Hey there everyone, welcome to the BookingTeam "What you need to know in the vacation rental industry" blog post! See below for everything to keep you up to date with the vacation rental industry. Enjoy!* *I Made $41,879 As An AirBNB Host"* They then link you to a few article reposts from Huffington Post, etc. with a one-sentence description of each. They close out with an ad: ![Booking Team 2.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXcyu7RfY4m5RXV8RuvHz6Ckfwr7eHsKVigTKCT6ExQx1/Booking%20Team%202.png) This entire post would look at home in any email client's spam folder. I get nonsense like this via paper junk mail realtors every day. Immediately, I wondered where the content was here that justified these type of rewards, not to mention the coveted space in Trending, and the sycophantic comments that came along with them, complete with subtler "don't forget to follow me backs". ![Booking Team 3.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNS7iHNSMtSQrAgZukajri8LUYukPQfuQoAe1Wp3Zq9Wd/Booking%20Team%203.png) *Name obscured to protect the likely innocent/ignorant.* Naturally, I thought I would look into where these rewards came from. Cue up the Steppenwolf, because it's time for a magic carpet ride. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPE9a_epmWw Now, let's see what we have here: ![Booking Team 4.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmWr3w6ik4nwkbRgDdGy3A52zGkSNjFGhA1Pe58na6VSZH/Booking%20Team%204.png) *No, I was not surprised to find out this list opens with a self-promoting circle-jerk squad.* Here's the lead whale: ![Booking Team 5.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmSbNzgb4YE12ykitzUUgPuz33a66R36wHfHCBeYseTszP/Booking%20Team%205.png) *Whale who only resteems (mostly multi-flagged) BookingTeam posts, has only 28 posts - Check.* And our faithful second in command: ![Booking Team 6.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcRr7pFtKG7tqgb7s7g1emvA39msFSnwS3fbqBpdxvKcy/Booking%20Team%206.png) When you move on from there, you get to what appear to be some real posters, but given the size of the first two in question, it is almost academic by then. It also begs the question, why are real posters upvoting this garbage? @aggroed has recently posted about related issues (spamming garbage content to self-upvote) here, perhaps he can chime in: https://steemit.com/circlejerk/@aggroed/autovorotic-asphyxiation-the-mega-circle-jerk-is-choking-out-itself-through-the-rewards-pool If this is what people see on the Trending page, pushing off their quality posts making 32 cents, Steemit will never hit mass adoption as anything more than another paid ad platform. Where's @berniesanders when you need him?

gore