When sorting by hot, I get posts with 1 upvote and no comments near the top. And it is above a post from the same community (nieuws) that has 2 upvotes. Seems to be broken.
I agree with your definition of hot. My view is that a 10 minute old post with a single upvote does not meet that definition. The one upvote a post gets when it is created does not mean positive interaction. Too much bias towards new and not enough towards upvote count. Edit: This lemmy doc confirms it is intentional. And a lemmy issue, not voyager specific.