I have taken a tour around these "What's Hot Now" places, and most of them are invested with passive avatars. The only movement comes from their AO's, they hang around for hours, there is no respond, they dont talk, there is no real interaction. The use of bots and camping is not allowed, but people are inventive and surely they found other ways. Everything to get on the main page of Second Life. Can you blame them lol its a great opportunity. But so unfair to other places, who dont lobby and recruit and do alot of payouts hehe.
I thought we had left that whole traffic and populairity issue behind us, but with this Hot Spot thing it is very much alive again. So much for a real and active community (one of the terms to get selected). Suuuuuure.