I really like your suggestions and the view count and votes on this post are a great reflection of why the system isn't working for the vast majority of it's users and that quality is going unnoticed.
The trending page is setting a very bad exceptions for new users coming to the site. When they realise that their amazing posts are going unnoticed I would understand them leaving steemit.

I particularly like the idea of randomising posts as it would give everyone a chance to be in the lime light.
When I dig deeper I find some amazing work on this platform and the twenty or so authors continually on the trending page need more competition to be visible in order to show that quality can win over in the end.

Thanks for this post, I am glad that others are thinking as I do about this major bug in the system.