[thewizard16]

Hmm... The touchy and heated topic of "seat saving".... Well, I'll first say that I do not think that it is okay to curse at someone for sitting in a seat that you are "saving". However, some "saving" of seats is almost necessary for a team to be able to sit together. I'm not talking about staking out 100 seats and using 40 of them, I'm talking about spreading what people you have over the seats you know you're going to need in an hour, but the people just haven't quite gotten there yet. It's important for teams and their parents/engineers/mentors to sit together, this is true. It's also important that everyone gets a seat, whether they're in "your" section or not. I've seen some interesting strategies for letting people know they're "in your section" without breaking the rules and calling it "your" section.

1. The entire team sitting there turns and stares at the offending "invader" until either A. They leave, or B. They explode in flames. (I have yet to see B happen.)
2. The entire team gets up and moves to an emptier section. (Sadly, I've seen that happen)
3. Team members loudly talk over the offending person to other team members until they get very uncomfortable.

All of these are rude, but I've seen them all. They're less rude than cursing at someone, but still not nice. So, my opinion is: people are going to save seats in some form or fashion, it's unavoidable seeing as how all the teams like to sit with, you know, their own team, SO, just spread out in the seats you KNOW you're going to need. Don't take a whole section. And if someone invades, live with it. We can't break the rules and "save" seats, so they've got a right to be there too.
Thanks,