DVing didn't happen on LEO for sure, people just held off - there was kind of a silent consensus on not doing it.
The only way to stop yourself being at the mercy of Whales is to Power Up and seek to make a return through curation, no one can take that away.
I can tell you that the average person on POB ISN'T doing that because my vote value keeps going up and I'm only selling about a third of mine on the way up, which means people in general are failing to 'protect their earnings'.
RE: The shift in power, how Proof of Brain (POB) became King of the Hive Engine tokens