Not sure if this has been suggested already, but I noticed in a bunch of tournaments the person that will exit the group is clear way before all the games are completed.  Couldn't a simple algorithm be implemented where the person is marked as a winner in the particular round, and the tournament can move on without being held up by people battling it out for 2nd, 3rd, 4th positions in a group.  I mean - sure they should complete their games, but nothing stops the tournament from going into further rounds at that point.  This could easily cut down tournament duration by months.

yep i totally agree with that suggestion

I signed up 37th for a 40 man tournament with a 1 day per move limit.  I don't know how long it took for the tournament to fill up 40 players from the time it was created, but I'm assuming it was quite a bit of time.  A few players timed out all their games on the first day.  It might be a good idea to have a sort of 'grace period' (3 days or so) after the tournament starts so people don't have to worry about missing the start, especially on these 1 day tournaments. 

That is one of the best tournament improvement suggestions I have heard so far. I agree with you, eternal21.