Very true @matrixdweller It seems like the market algorithms have begin to incentivize the whales to sell because their endorsements has been found to be unsupported by the vote power/time ratio of their followers. They are selling out because they are scared that they will loose influence to other areas of interest to the community. This should be celebrated as the community engages in whaling, orienting itself more to value good information rather than profit incentive and refusing to vote on posts if they are unjustly popular.
Ive tried to bring many people on here but it hasn't caught on with anyone, I think the site can be really intimidating for new users and more tools are needed for it to be more user friendly but the site will get there.
Only if the functions of steemit could be simplified into an add on widget to use with all other information networks, like paypal was adapted to an easy add on for consumer networks, then we would gain transparency of information economics and a more complete picture of the social endorsement you speak of.