Here comes the voice of reason from an average joe monkey coder so take it for what it is.
Out of these great choices, which one is the easiest solution from a coding perspective that won’t generate a defensive coding paradigm or spark incessant bitching from the WTF people?
Do that one.
Better yet the ‘topic hotness widget’ already exists and we all understand it (like when I click your picture I get the main topic and your responses minus all others). So the best option is to do nothing and keep that functionality status quo.