Pressing "Call the Clock" immediately

[SRE Turner]

I'd be interested to know what people think about the tactic of pressing "Call the Clock" very early in the game, either on your first turn or as soon as you've taken the lead, as discussed at https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=241271.

As a reminder, the rules say

During the final stages of the game, the action slows down and may become stagnated. If any player feels the game has reached a state of deadlock, during their turn they may “call the clock.”

So which of these do you think?

1. It's an expected tactic
2. It's against the rules
3. It's within the letter of the law but not the spirit; the rule should be changed to disallow it

Myself I'm inclined towards option 3, but I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions because I think any of them is a tenable position.

Of course if @Andy Looney or @looneykristin are reading this, I'd love to hear your definitive opinion!

[c0nst]

I just discovered this game few days ago. It's very fun and unusual.

And I noticed there were count down clocks almost immediately few times and I thought it was some sort of configuration parameter. Now I know the opponents pressed the button after taking the initial lead, hehe ) Anyway, we played many more moves after that without triggering the end game.

But... I've read that the first player has a bit of advantage. So, maybe postponing the "clock" for some number of turns (20?) after game starts would be reasonable.

[austinmathews]

Torn on this as it is obnoxious but rule consistency is important to me. I'm also not sure changing or removing the rule solves the problem, just moves it.

Absolutely annoying to see it right off the rip, especially when coupled with passive play. Feels like I have no choice but to accept a draw or put my self in a weaker position just to have a chance to actually play. I have fortunately not seen it too often in my limited plays here so I'm hoping it's a small price to pay to retain official rules in competitive play.

For when it is pushed when someone has a small lead, it feels like something that you just have to expect. I suspect delaying the call would likely just encourage more prolonged passive play, dragging out the suffering. Though I suppose it may allow for more time to set up a response. Hard to say.

Is it seen a lot at the higher levels here? I'm hoping that it is one of those things where while allowed, can be overcome with superior aggressive playing so becomes less effective/seen as you climb. Definitely sucks to face for new players though.