because why upvote an article from an unknown author, when minnows prefer to spend their 20 vote daily limit on popular authors - to get that important cent for their click.
This is where the minnows are going wrong. When they upvote a popular post, it's true the value of it rises. But the minnow won't get a curation award if whales voted before them. It is a complete waste of time for minnows to vote on popular stuff. They should seek to discover and vote for new stuff in the hopes that it will become popular when the whales vote after them.