A lot of people always hear the terms and wonder what the "official" meanings are. Well I will make things really easy. There are no "official" definitions for these terms. They are simply generalized terms we use to describe different levels of influence.

Think of the thought experiment involving grains of sand. At what point do they become a pile? 1 grain? 5 grains? 200 grains?

If you say 200 is the lowest number of grains of sand required to be a pile, then is 199 not a pile?

The point of this thought experiment is to show how the human mind thinks of large numbers versus amounts we can easily quantify (this is also why we have 10 fingers and is for most humans around the level of things they can easily remember at once).

So what are these terms really then? Guidelines! Using the above analogy I tend to look at things like this:

Whales

• Over 100,000 SP
• Provide much more up vote influence than the average steemian

Dolphins

• Over 5,000 SP
• Provide a very nice up vote relative to the average steemian
• Usually very active in the community providing good content

Minnows

• Under 500 SP
• Usually new members that are still learning
• Good content providers should be boosted by bigger fish

I would like to add my own term "Salmons". These are the people I feel fit between "Minnows" and "Dolphins".

Salmons

• Over 500 SP but under 5,000 SP
• These are people who have worked hard and moved out of the rank of minnow
• Has access to the Voting Weight Slide Bar when voting
• May be considered a dolphin by others

Hope this helps a few of my fellow steemians!