Can you stop auto-attacking but keep targeting a boss?

on nomnomatron i just keep wailing on the boss along with a mage and a dk the mage just spams spell steal and gets the haste buff from him while casting as often as they can...i think that leads to higher group damage then having tank + interupter not attacking for the 15 seconds or so that he has the shield

our mage usually lets it stack a bit then spams spell steal till all stacks are gone then attacks till the stacks pick up again


and i think if you lose your target you stop auto attacking but if you re target them pretty soon you begin your auto attack again...just something ive noticed on nef when interupting the adds when it gets low and we are waiting for another crackle i de target the dude straight after then if i click on him right away (left click not right click) i start auto attacking imediatly

There is a Stop Attacking function in Key Bindings under Miscellaneous Functions. You can always keybind that to something if you like. It keeps your current target so you can easily see if it's casting something you need to interrupt, and you'll still be dodging and all that jazz.