"Whales" don't exist

Dividing a large and growing community into three distinct categories - minnows, dolphins, and whales - is problematic for several reasons.

1. While it is understandable that people try to make sense of the ecosystem in which they find themselves, it hardly makes sense to reduce the vast and diverse system into three easily distinguishable groups and then to project the properties we associate with the group back on the individuals within the group. That is not how evolution works:

Instead, what you see is that there is a large variety of species, all across the spectrum. There are whales that eat plancton, whales that eat fish. There are whales living only in certain areas, while others traverse the globe. Likewise there are steem-whales that don't post, and steem-whales that are very active. There are steem-whales who only upvote posts about #steemit, or #marijuana, or #any-other-tag, and steem-whales that vote on a large variety of posts. There are steem-whales who vote a lot (I'm talking to you, @berniesanders), and those who vote very selectively. The same can be said for the so-called dolphins and minnows. Some are here to please the whales, cleaning their teeth, or scrubbing their back. Others are more poised to find their own voice or niche and create something beautiful there.

2. Thinking in terms of division between members is a bad political move, it furthers a victim mentality and hands over your power to others. What you get is circlejerking suckers.

Look at these fish:

Do they look like they just exist to please others?

Hell no!

They are there to shine, to bring forth their best self and to procreate amongst their own species. None of them is trying to mate with a whale. These fish know what is best for them. Just like you know what is best for you. This means that within the Steemit ecosystem, you have to think about what you want, not about what a whale might want. Please be yourself.

3. Whales are invested in Steem. They want Steem to succeed. They want the value to maintain over time. When they stimulate an ecosystem of pleasers and suckers, the system will collapse, because diverse and interesting people will just leave. Then the whales will die out, because there is no supporting ecosystem.

This picture is wrong. The Killer whale is at the top, but the Killer whale is not immortal. They, at some point, will die, their bodies eaten by those at the bottom. It's the circle of life, baby (cue Elton John).

But, more importantly, the whales cannot exist without the krill, without the web that supports the whole system. Every species has a specific and useful function, that supports the entire system. You have a voice that is important to steemit and this will be recognized, first by those most affected by it, then by the bigger players who are affected by those around you, and finally, it disperses throughout the web of life. When you say the things that are valuable to you and to your direct environment, it will be rewarded.

So to conclude: Whales (as they are viewed by the community at this point) don't exist. They have no power outside of the ecosystem that supports them and if they don't give back, they will die out. They are as much dependent on us (probably more so), than the other way around. Think of it: they are invested much more into Steemit, while a small time fish that just swam into the pond has not much to lose. Whales need fish to grow.