I've learned about this analogy from someone else but I forgot who so I apologize for not being able to give the credit. But I also wrote this based from what I understand about the cake analogy and the whale experiment.
A Cake in a Room with Many People.
Imagine a beautiful and delicious cake. The fact that it's a great cake - it has a huge value.
Now, that cake is inside a beautiful room with many kinds of people in it who would want to take a slice and give it to someone else for their contributions. Some of these people:
- contributed so much effort and money to make the room and cake exist or more attractive or look more expensive. They may also be the people who have been there for so long - the pioneers. Meanwhile, some...
- ...have been attracted by the room, went inside and contributed effort and some money to also keep the room as beautiful as it is or much more, as well as make it a merrier place (the more, the merrier).
The Whale Experiment
For a long time, the people from number 1 have had the chance to get a larger slice of the beautiful cake and give it to someone else for the contributions that they make.
Now, they're experimenting to see what will happen if they let all the people from number 2 to get around the cake without them (the people from number 1), and then slice it.
In relation to Steemit.
The beautiful room is Steemit, the beautiful and delicious cake represents the overall payout of all posts, the people at number 1 are the whales, while the people at number 2 are the dolphins and minnows.
About the Current Downvoting
Some of the whales see that some people of their kind are still not abstaining in slicing the cake (due to being unaware of the project or that they're just plain bots).
So they cancel those votes as if saying to another number 1 person in the room: