Originally Posted by ilikebikes

No matter what people think it works, once when I was chaining my bike to a rack the guy next to me made a remark (similiar to yours) about how stupid it looked, I laughed and went about my business, when I got back I was lucky enough to see his face when HE noticed that he (and a few other) had their saddles stolen! mine was still there! So yeah, it may be a "very janky hobo way of attempting to secure your seatpost and saddle" but it worked for me