Thanks for bringing this to people's attention.  A large part of Steem's success is going to depend on the whales being long term thinkers.

If the whales vote other whales and people they know, the site will die.  Or grow a lot less than it should.  They should be SUPER careful not to do that.

If whales act without vision bad things will happen.  A lot really rides on the quality of the whales to be 1) rational 2) effective shapers of an inclusive community and 3) long term focused.  

Short term greedy is the dream killer.