> So I guess this post wasn't flagged because it's explaining the experiment?

It will probably be 24 hours before it gets to the point that everything is canceled out. A lot will slip through the cracks before then. The whales that are countering other whales upvotes are building lists of other whales that need to be countered. I believe they are focusing on the posts with the highest payouts first.

> flags hurt rep don't they

Only if they decrease the total votes to a negative rscore. As long as the post is making _something_ (even a non-negative 'zero') then the user's reputation will not go down.