Timeouts for Ladder games

[LPhillips]

There's a rule in place which is almost always beneficial to the community: If a player misses his/her first turn, that player forfeits.

I propose that this is bad for team ladder games, especially as there is no option to replace the player. I've been the player left behind twice, and now I've done it to a teammate. I missed a turn (work-related cause) and now he must play by himself against 2 opponents. Can this be remedied in future? Either allow the team the option to replace the player, or remove the rule for team ladder games?

[Chazar]

Seconded! I also suffered from such accidental instant loss.

I understand that this rule was put in place to reduce the server's load, since it apparently happens frequently, so how about making silver/gold members exempt from this loss on the first turn? This should still catch the majorities for freshly registered players that never show up again after signing in once or twice?

In general it would be nice if there was a team-sitter option: I don't want my team members to be sitters when I do not expect to be away, but I would want them to be able to spontaneously sit any team game where the time limit is about to run out, say 3 hours or so (or preferably a number configurable by each team).