[dsmoker]

Ellen,

The fact that you and your team are aware of this person's actions and concerned about it is what sets you apart from some other vetern teams that have developed an "elitist" attitude. I know that when representatives from our team approached yours, they were treated kindly and with respect, despite the fact that we, too, we mired in the 40s (although we believed and still believe our robot individually performed a lot better than that!!) I know for a fact, however, that they were not treated similarly by another highly ranked vetern team. Instead, they were told, quite abruptly, "Go away. We don't want to talk to you or work with you." Now, if you're in the top rankings and already have an idea of who your selections will be, that's all you have to do -- politely say that you have already made a short list for alliance selections and wish the team approaching you good luck in their quest. You never know -- next year your team may be the one needing an alliance partner and the team you dissed might be the one selecting partners. How likely do you think it is that a team you treated so rudely will want to work with you in the future?