First things first, let me congratulate for a Weds spectacle :)
As for the whale in question, I have been approached through regular channels (email) with business proposal under confidentiality of person in question before the deal is presented and I took it as a gentleman's agreement. The reason I took you as a proxy is exactly due to a fact you take things seriously.
I'm not going to dig deeper to determinate if there's a scheme of multiple persons involved - the last time I did that in telecom industry, there was a bit of tectonic movements, with whole forest being cut for lawsuit papers :)) So far, nose tells me, there's not much one can do, the eco-system of steemit needs to get fixed by itself. It could be a good thing. Others need to start acting seriously, rather then having a situation of me bulshithing toughs of crazy poet, you up-voting it, no-one gives a damn.
Totally got you both in regards to price tags, and alternatives. Business and money making is good thing, as long we are not cutting the branch we are sitting on for short term personal gain. We are in different positions from perspective of investment proportion, it's more the reasonable you are going to protect your investment here. I joined this place and take it more like some sort of civil responsibility. At the end of the day, I like having a place where I can express crazy toughs, since conventional media is usually managed by companies / scheduled posts etc. The bottom line is, I am also focused on making it more healthy just like you - only from the different objective.
I am definitely going to post whenever I have something that could be useful for others. That has nothing to do with auto up-vote. Even if you auto down-vote me :)) - Which you are totally encouraged to do if I post a bullshit :)) Your support was always highly appreciated, and more important - it was free :)
Not leaving, just stopping witness work, due to absurd offer that goes like:
"Give me $$$$, in order to allow you to support the network, that you are already supporting from your own pocket, then you can earn $$$$$"... right...shutdown :))
Nose tells me, $$$$$ projection is cumulative power of multiple whales, hence the answer to your question can't be given with 100% precision :)
Anyhow, thanks for the great support as always. This is most likely going to get debated within witness community sooner or later, as it's far from sustainable the way it is on the long run.