First, let me say that I have a game in which my opponent is down to his king and two isolated pawns.  I, on the other hand, have a rook, a bishop, a knight, and a passed pawn.  My aggravating situation is this:  he is a premium member.  Why is that aggravating?  Because, it appears that premium members can go on and off of vacation time whenever they please EVEN IF THEIR GAME IS HOPELESS!!!!  This opponent has used vacation time at least three times AFTER his position became hopeless.  I reported this as vacation abuse, but this is the reply I got.  "It seems your opponent is a premium member which means that they have auto-timeout protection where their account is automatically set to vacation once they get low on time in a game. We believe that this is the case with your opponent rather than it being a case of vacation abuse. However, we will continue to monitor this member for possible vacation abuse." 

Am I justified in being aggravated?  Do premium players just get to prolong a game as long as they choose?   Apparently, I have that right, too, but I would never prolong a lost game (remember they've used vacation time at least three times AFTER the game was hopeless) just to annoy my opponent!

As the report said, maybe they weren't using it to aggrevate you. MAYBE they had other games going on in which they were low on time. If that was the case then they AUTOMATICALLY go on vacation. Maybe you aren't the center of the universe and maybe everything that happens isn't caused by you.

If it's so easily won, can't you just not worry about it and play other games. The time will eventually come when they have to lose, anyway. Just put it at the bottom of your priority list.

 Sounds like you prolong lost games, too?  I hope not!  After the first Auto-vacation kicked in, why didn't my opponent resign his LOST game?  After the second Auto-vacation kicked in, why didn't my opponent resign his LOST game? After the  third Auto-Vacation kicked in, will my opponent resign his LOST game? 

I think you are over-reacting.  In many of my games it goes onto vacation when I am low on time because sometimes I am very busy and don't have time to visit the site.  Without that feature it would ruin many good games for me and my opponents!  Of course some players might abuse it but it won't change the inevitable outcome of the game you're playing so be patient, this is very important in chess anyway!

 Because I believe this website has a rule against prlonging LOST games with vacation time.  I'm not saying I'm right to be aggravated, I will listen and respect anyone's views.  Perhaps, we all should prolong our games as long as possible?

I know it's only somewhat likely, but might you be overreacting? They could have a legitimate reason for going on "vacation". Are they playing out their other games and just avoiding yours on vacation time?

 Fair enough, but this game is no longer a good game.  My opponent is Auto-vacationing, then making one move, then Auto-vacationing, making one move, again and again.  If I'm the only one who thinks this is poor sportsmanship then I will be forced to reconsider my position.

 Nevermind the reason for their vacation time, the issue here is it is a LOST game and there is a rule on this site that, I thought, prevented prolonging LOST games with vacation time.

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There's no rule against playing out lost games. They don't have to resign. If your opponent is using the vacation time for a legitimate reason, then that might be their line of thinking -- that they are playing the game to the end as circumstances allow.

There is always the chance that they are just dragging this out, but it would be hard to know without delving into their move pattern with other games. That's a little too personal, though, and best handled by administrators.

Bullrock, you are correct, your opponent is displaying very poor sportsmanship... don't sink to his level, and never play him again.

A few things:

Your opponent won't have vacation time if/when they actually need it now.

You can always rub the defeat in your opponent's face.  Promote every remaining pawn.  To bishops.

If you've constructed some of a mating net, use conditional moves.  If every move they make, in whatever interval they make it, triggers a conditional move, they might reconsider their continued play.  Or, you know, lose.

 I don't want to take the time to make a conditional move for every possible move my opponent could make, but I like the idea.  The point about not having the vacation time is a good one.  As far as promoting my pawn to a bishop, I'd rather not.  But, I could see how some might.

 Thanks for adding to this post.  I was beginning to think I was all alone.  I will attempt to avoid this player in the future.

You can do more than attempting to avoid members which you do not want to play again. You can add them to your 'blocked' list. This will keep this member from having any further communication (including games) with you on this site. You can manage your blocked list here: http://www.chess.com/home/privacy.html .

Your opponent is using vacation for a lost game. How do you consider that abuse? What's he gaining? Let him piss away all his time. Move on.

 Nice.  I will add this player to that list.  Thanks for the information.

 Well it's not abuse unless there is a rule that says you cannot use vacation time to prolong LOST games.  This site has such a rule, but whether it is being enforced .....

You could do what I just did to my losing opponent: drop four games in a row so he loses more rating points. That'll fix him!