I believe it was Niles in 2011 (someone correct me it I am wrong) a team moved up into alliance captain position. They declined their spot. Tom Nadar seemed surprised.
So now that we have Frank instructing people on specifically what to say and what not to say during alliance selections, can we get him to comment on the fact that you cannot graciously accept. Nearly every student I see these days (including my own) graciously accepts and I cringe every time I hear it, which is about 14 times per event.
The team had already qualified for MSC, so they didn’t have to play for points. They were seeded somewhere beyond 8th, but when there was interpicking in the top 8, they moved to an alliance captain position. While they weren’t totally inoperative, they preferred to use the extra 3 hours pit time to correct some problems they had.
I disagree. Since one can accept arrogantly, one can conversely accept graciously. From a purely technical point of view, the language absolutely permits it. From a common use POV, though, one would be on more solid ground accepting gratefully.
That being said, if sanddrag starts a petition to outlaw graciously accepting, I will sign it. 1676 has outlawed it on the team.