Yes, the whale experiment showed that only a few flags would be necessary.
If the noncooperative whales persisted, there would be no other choice.
I looked at the top accounts, only steemit has enough that couldnt be countered by two or three other whales working together.

A hard coded cap would show weakness in the resolve of the community.
If the community decides that its better to muzzle the whales to benefit the newbs, then it needs to make that happen.
Were the community to decide the bots are cancerous, we should flag their users.

Like the vote bots, we will know our success when they have no customers, when folks decide to tilt the math in favor of the havenots, rather than the haves, we will see our success.

I think it is better to not choose an option than to have that option removed.
It looks better on the whales to show restraint than to have their option removed by the code.
Its the same as not commiting a crime because you think that action wrong rather than because you fear punishment.

Good post today on the subject.

Thank you!