INTERNAL RATING SYSTEM: I figured this site already has an internal rating system that perhaps has all mods/admins rating comics and giving preference to those that they think are appropriate for material on their site, entertaining (to them, only), and worthy of their discrimination.
(ex-- each admin rates comics 1-to-5 and when tallied, the higher scores rise faster. With 20 admins., a rating of 100 will get a 5x boost in hidden stat compilation over a comic with a mere 20 rating.)
I've seen old-old comics that have few subscribers and few views jump up the charts above newer updates with many subscribers and loads of views. It doesn't make sense. The only way that could happen is if the site is rigged to promote certain comics on an internal rating system.
Perhaps I'm wrong.
If there is an internal rating system, it should be abolished. Let the readers' views and votes rule the site, or drop the pretense and just rule "above the fold" with an iron fist that doesn't use terms like "popular" and "trending".
One thing that would help new comics get traction--put in a time-slide system where comics that haven't updated get lesser ability to appear in "popular" and "trending". Freshness should be encouraged. Old-n-complete (not updated for a year, for example) comics should be archived in a separate area reserved for such, and those should be hand-picked by staff to rule out random/amateur work. Make way for the new stuff!
There should also be a category that dredges up the unpopular stuff and provides a grab bag of things which aren't getting noticed, but updated regularly for more than 20 episodes (or some number of episodes) to allow serious contributors who aren't as popular to get SOME exposure somehow.