<story><title>Whale Watching: Many companies earn a huge portion of sales from a few customers</title><url>http://blog.secondmeasure.com/2017/12/07/whales/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>watwut</author><text>Game industry calls people who spend a lot of money on games &amp;quot;whales&amp;quot;. I guess it is because whales are supposed to have a lot of meat. None of people who use it knows a lot about biology and whale is likely the only big animal that can be eaten they know.</text></item><item><author>grawprog</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t understand I think that&amp;#x27;s my highest rated comment on HN. I gotta admit I wrote it before I actually read the article. I really thought it was going to be about whale watching. I&amp;#x27;ve been trying to figure out if there&amp;#x27;s some kind of brilliant metaphor in that comment but honestly I can&amp;#x27;t see one now that I&amp;#x27;ve actually read it.</text></item><item><author>jnmandal</author><text>I think you are taking the metaphor a little bit too literally. :)</text></item><item><author>grawprog</author><text>When I was in school for Wildlife Management, we learned pretty much the same thing about hunting. More money gets made by, outfitting companies, tour guides and local communities by having a lottery style big game hunt than an open season. It attracts a few people who are willing to spend upwards of $20000 just to shoot one animal as opposed to many hunters coming in and not spending as much overall. It also tends to be better for the survival of the population as a whole though it does tend to lead to an overall weakening of the population though as only the biggest and strongest animals, that should be breeding, get removed.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>chickenfries</author><text>No it comes from Whaling, as in hunting whales for their spermaceti which was used as a fuel and to make many products. Whale meat is actually not usually sold by whalers. Not a lot of good methods for preserving meat in the 19th C on a boat.&lt;p&gt;Whaling is compared to businesses that rely on a small number of big spenders to be profitable because whaling is a similar high risk high reward business, compared to fishing. Whaling is even more dangerous than fishing, requires being at sea for a month at a time... if you fail to catch a whale, no one on the ship gets paid. Whalers were paid in equity. A lowly deckhand would make a very small amount compared to a spearman who killed a whale or the captain, but there were rewards for spotting the whale and even the deckhand would probably make enough money to take off work for a while before having to return to sea.&lt;p&gt;(Anyone else enjoy Moby Dick?)</text></comment>
<story><title>Whale Watching: Many companies earn a huge portion of sales from a few customers</title><url>http://blog.secondmeasure.com/2017/12/07/whales/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>watwut</author><text>Game industry calls people who spend a lot of money on games &amp;quot;whales&amp;quot;. I guess it is because whales are supposed to have a lot of meat. None of people who use it knows a lot about biology and whale is likely the only big animal that can be eaten they know.</text></item><item><author>grawprog</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t understand I think that&amp;#x27;s my highest rated comment on HN. I gotta admit I wrote it before I actually read the article. I really thought it was going to be about whale watching. I&amp;#x27;ve been trying to figure out if there&amp;#x27;s some kind of brilliant metaphor in that comment but honestly I can&amp;#x27;t see one now that I&amp;#x27;ve actually read it.</text></item><item><author>jnmandal</author><text>I think you are taking the metaphor a little bit too literally. :)</text></item><item><author>grawprog</author><text>When I was in school for Wildlife Management, we learned pretty much the same thing about hunting. More money gets made by, outfitting companies, tour guides and local communities by having a lottery style big game hunt than an open season. It attracts a few people who are willing to spend upwards of $20000 just to shoot one animal as opposed to many hunters coming in and not spending as much overall. It also tends to be better for the survival of the population as a whole though it does tend to lead to an overall weakening of the population though as only the biggest and strongest animals, that should be breeding, get removed.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kevin_thibedeau</author><text>It comes from the casino industry where the big gamblers are &amp;quot;whales&amp;quot;. They get all the perks so they can keep on losing money to the house.</text></comment>