"Strategic" Alliance selection

[Leav]

This is obviously a delicate matter so please forgive me if this comes across as rude or not in line with the spirit of FIRST. I won't beat around the bush here, i'd just like a primer on FIRST etiquette with regards to "Strategic" alliance selections at champs.

We've only been to the championship once before (Israeli RAS in 2008), and were too dazed to understand what was going on..

So, to the point:

1. If someone is going to select you, will they talk to you and set it in stone? (so that you can tell others to not plan on you etc.)
2. say TeamA is seeded below you and would like to select TeamB, would they (TeamA, TeamB or both) approach you and ask you not to select TeamB?
3. Is it general practice to honor such a request if it is made?

I'll stick my neck out and say my honest opinion: I don't think a request like #2 is something that should be acceptable, and in that light I would think that honoring such a request would be pretty naive, and would really gut the seeding point system of it's meaning.

Knowing what the general FIRST etiquette suggests would be insightful for a foreign team

(Manners in a different country are always important!)

Thanks for your help, and hopefully this doesn't rub anyone the wrong way.
-Leav