never EVER let refs move specs into game

[ray]

I was just ref-joined into a stacked game at the end.

Why does this feature even exist?

If this ability stays, may I humbly suggest that any ref who moves a player from spec to a team during a match be auto-reported for this behavior?

[Dr_Mr_Ed]

There is a use for this feature, but certainly it can be abused like you saw. In the most recent case I saw, I popped into a server in spec mode waiting for another player to make even teams before joining. I figured I had a bit to wait, so went to refill coffee, then came back to find I was "put" on a team, where of course I was AFK for a couple minutes while I made coffee. At least there should be some clear communication when doing this, and maybe even require an F1 from the user. For example, "Referee Bob wants to put you on Blue. F1=yes, F2=no".