Hey Steve! Thanks for this post as it sent me down a little bunny hole having this same issue and not having any idea what was in whirfloc. From the shallow dive that I did, I didn't see anything that was dictated by style but I think you are in the ballpark for sure with the lighter brews were the clarity is desirable for the appearance of the beer; the blonde is a blonde and not a hazy blonde. I don't know about you but that "shine" on my beer makes me shine and the more natural the path that I took to get there, the brighter I beam!
Pretty much from my third or forth batch, I have been tossing a teaspoon of Irish Moss into the kettle to help with clarity not giving it a second thought because it was part of the recipe. It's natural, it's cheap and Idunno....I guess it works...seaweed is good for you so...no harm! Well, whirlfloc is concentrated seaweed ...more is better right? Ehhh...maybe not. It's probably not going to matter in the quantity we are consuming in our batches but in the for what it's worth column, there are some concerns by the FDA in carrageenan which is derived from the same sea weed they make Irish Moss from and the primary ingredient of whirlfloc tablets. Do a little poking around to get your own conclusion but thanks for the tip to my curiosity!