Thanks. I think my definition of Whale is different to the dictionary definition. I really mean anyone with an high SP and REP.
My main complaint is around the expectation to vote for people that vote for you rather than on the quality of the content.
I'm pretty sure that rep doesn't matter as far as rewards. It's the amount of SP that a user has that makes the difference. They could have a rep of 25 (or even be like @berniesanders used to be at -19 - now it seems that he's recovered from the whale wars with @haejin), but if you have SP, your vote matters more.
I was confused at the beginning last year when I first signed up, but quickly realized that those upvoting me with a +70 rep but an SP less than mine amounted to dust.
As for downvotes, I'm not sure if rep figures into it more. It seems that a downvote from a rep of 70+ matters more than a flag from a user with rep = 25 and am not sure how much SP is weighed into that algoritim. From what I've heard, your rep damage done by a downvote depends to some extent on whether the user's rep is higher than yours.
About the only reliable use for rep score is to determine whether the user is a spammer or not. In other words ignore negative rep scores. Otherwise, there appears to be little correlation between rep score and actual value on the platform. I've found users with rep between 40 and 60 to have the best content generally because they are hungry for advancement.
Thanks. I will evaluate your assertion about content from users between 40 and 60 rep :)