I hear you.

I think that most of the existing users on Steemit ignores the trending page, as we all know it's bogus. However, new people on the other hand, doesn't realize when they arrive the first time, and that is extremely misleading. New users would ultimately write and publish one or two articles and expect tons of rewards, and when they quickly realize that they don't earn more than some dust at best, they will leave. Steemit have a huge user retention problem, which have been ignored for too long, and I'd personally say that false or inaccurate advertising from well-known Steemians and the trending pages are the two biggest reasons for that.