Interesting -- yes, I'll have to agree with you there. Whaleshares was exciting at the time; a novelty perhaps. Even if they made a success out of their dump, I think most would have came back to Steemit in the end. Especially with steem engine tokens and smts on the horizon. That sort of stuff would have blown Whaleshares out of the water.
Also from what I've seen their team lacks any sort of true vision - so there's that too.