I would say the only real obvious thing is that the people above on the list do enjoy the Steem Block Chain, and the social interaction. I have over the course of the time since asking to be tracked, (week 19, Feb 11, 2018), have been all up and down the rankings I have not missed making the list once. I came very close in week 54 when I was at number 98 on the list, and week 21 was my highest placing on the list at number 3. So I would have to say your vision of obvious is a lot different than mine.
The majority of the people watching and following are looking at themselves, trying to see where they are where they are going and if they are falling asleep at the wheel.
This is just the top 100 people, I only spoke to 54 different people this week, only 3 accounts spoke to 100 or more different people. So it is very hard to see how this is rigged.
If you want to earn Steem, you can do it through curation,keep comment on whale post and hope for a shiny whale vote, make a few post of things you are interested in, (I am sure there are others that are interested at time in the same things as you), or wait, hope and pray the value of Steem will go up and more people can start voting on comments other than the large accounts.
I post, not often, usually 2 or 3 post a week, I read a lot of post, if I enjoy them I vote and comment on a lot of them, I enjoy a wide range of post, some I just vote, some I vote and comment, but one thing about my comments is they are all real. No coddling of ohh what a lovely picture, when it is a blurry and poor quality picture. I will give my two cents worth of a comment on how the picture could have been better.
So in conclusion: if you want to make more than a one steem bullcrap I got last week you got last week, make a post or two, leave a sincere comment on a post or two, try interacting like a real person at a normal non rave party, start with a nice quiet small dinner party, then maybe try an outdoor barbecue party, then a company party. Don't jump straight to a rave party unless you really have some thick skin.