[mycroft]

A large reason some players want "no alerts" is that they believe that, whether they ask or no, having partner Alert the Alertable bids and not Alert the non-Alertable bids give a comfort factor that's not technically legal "I know partner's still on the same page". The fact that that implication, stated or no, is an intimidation tactic, as is the "I said 'DON'T ALERT!'" when they inevitably forget once, as is...is what makes most NBOs disallow this request.

I have one player who doesn't want the Stop card used. "I'm not implying anything, I just don't like it". I will note I try (even though I really do believe he thinks some players are using it incorrectly or reminding partner it's a jump with it); and it's incredibly difficult, and does throw me off my game just the same. So I don't try any more :-)

The puppet Stayman issue is different - people were suspicious that other players were playing "puppet or standard, depending on whether partner Alerts." Unless you're checking every time, or asking which could wake them up, it's hard to catch that one.