> Yes you get a headstart by building a decent reputation

That's the key point that I think a lot of the new people don't get yet. We all started from 0 and worked our way to wherever we are now. You built whatever current headstart you have now by putting in the work before you had it.

It's a very fluid environment and the global trust score is dynamic.

Undisciplined

Stacker Saloon

saloon

Top posts are certainly not guaranteed though. That's the thing.

Yes you get a headstart by building a decent reputation and it is easier to rank higher with a decent trust score than as a newbie, but you need to maintain and sustain those expectations also if you want to retain eyeballs. I don't take that for granted at all. Someone else will soon put in far more time to their posts than I and others. That's inevitable.

I am willing to bet the average stacker spends 3-4 minutes on any post on the site. Unless a link/resource is really compelling me to share, I will very rarely post something without 3-4 hours of work. And in those best performing posts, it is more like 3-4 days of effort. This is lost if you believe that 'systemic favouritism' is the reason for handsome rewards.