Well, you're not wrong. It is bad news. I saw her mention that she used it to up vote herself early on, but once she became successful and had a following she no longer used it for up voting. I'll say this much. I am guessing it would take a lot of up votes for someone to get to the front. If you have a lot of friends who visit your page and up vote all of your stuff, then you won't have as much trouble getting up there.
I never made it up there until I gained a few friends. I guess people with no following may be the ones more likely to have a bunch of alts. Or someone who can't bear to not be seen. Makes me wonder who else is lurking here that we think actually left though.