We haven't been doing Author of the Day for a while as it was a partnership with Steem Voter and they were getting flagged. We have been talking about starting again soon.
Buildawhaletrail was an account that was created for something else but has not been used yet.
We used to apply Whaleshares to posts featured in the Curation Digest but we don't get them anymore. They were not a large vote, just something to help.
The curation digest was never about big upvotes (except for the one selected as Author of the Day which did receive $100-150+ in votes), it was about recognition and exposure. Posts featured in the digest receive more votes due to the exposure and generally gain more followers as well.
Ok, I understand that, but then you should really update your post description since it is no longer accurate!
As nice as it is to be mentioned in a curation digest, if people are sending SBD to buildawhale instead of another bid bot (even if that one would have a better ROI according to Steem bot tracker!) because they believe they have a chance of getting a big upvote and there is none I would almost call this a fraud... I did so and I know some fellow Steemians who did the same...