Someone should have the right to remove the chronic situations which arise out of "vacations". If you are on a vacation, as opposed to a temporary Leave of Absence for good reasons, then you should vacate, or be vacated.
The way things are, that little son of Erik's may well be CEO, by the time some Tourneys are finished, or all the participants have fallen off the twig, whichever happens earlier.
I realise this is an old thread, but that rule does allow something to be done about sandbaggers, and those who make tournaments last for ages..
Some people need to be able to not "vacate" their slot, but postpone their status, because Ill be in the middle of a game, and my parents make me want to do something, so I usually end up drawing or resigning 
During a match a tournament director should be allowed to remove a player for abusive behavior against another player in which that player complains as is detriment to integrity of the game.
I came across this thread while researching the ethics around removing a player from a tournament. I'm TD for a tournament in which a 3-person group saw two of the players time out on all of their games, and since the top 2 from each group advance, the two absent players technically tied for second place in the group and so were set to advance to round 5. I wanted to make sure it was acceptable to remove those players (which it seems to be).
But as I read through these posts, I have to say, I don't understand why people complain about players who use vacation in a tournament where vacation is allowed. If you're a TD, you have the option to not allow it. If you're a player, you have the option to not join a tournament that allows vacation. It seems utterly ridiculous to me to consider removing someone from a tournament for using vacation when you as the TD established that it was okay to use vacation. And, honestly, if these tournaments last for years, so what? There is no shortage of people on Chess.com who are ready and eager to play a game at any time. If you have some tournaments that are moving slowly, join some others. Start some random games. Join a club match. If your happiness depends on one tournament that isn't moving fast enough for your taste, you need to check your priorities. I understand being excited when you're doing well in a tournament and you want to keep playing. I was that way myself when I first started playing on Chess.com, but I've since joined so many tournaments, there is always something going on. If you're bored, it's your own fault. And if you're a TD who wants a quick moving tourney, you have the settings to create the atmosphere you desire. Good luck filling it.
Currently, Tournament Directors can remove players both during registration and even between rounds of an event that's already started.
We're considering making it so that the 2nd thing (booting a player during a tournament) is impossible.
Bad idea? Good idea?
Good idea.