*"A lot of the issues here seem to be around the fight to get on the "trending" page."*

I would tend to agree.

*"I wonder if they changed the trending algorithm to weigh the votes on the comments of a post as well as the post itself if that would encourage more discussion and push the good discussions to the top."*

I've suggested something very similar to this, but crafting the formula itself is no small tas.

*"Do you know how the trending page algorithm works?"*

I think it's a straight up, per-tag ranking of pending rewards. More = better.