Disconnecting instead of surrendering is certainly poor game etiquette , but i wouldn't see this as a priority here.
There are basically 5* ways a player can annoy their opponent in a mean spirited way , and i'd rank them as following...
1. Draw refusal -This is just a nightmare to be involved with . Also for anyone to be punished for this their opponent has to very carefully follow a procedure for documenting and reporting it which many people find difficult (though rules are necessary of course) . Once this is done the moderators have a lot of work analyzing the case and even then may be criticized by the parties involved. An auto draw bringing this to an end would be the best single improvement i'd say.
2. Taking the full 6 minutes - to the last second - to set up - This is done purely to irritate the opponent before the game even starts .Obviously nothing against the rules so nothing can be done.
3. Abusive chat . I'm not particulary bothered by this myself but could understand people may consider this the no.1 problem, especially if their children play here.
4. Letting the buffer run down from 5:00 to 0:00 when they can't win - This takes twice as long as the disx loser option .
5 .Disconnecting instead of surrendering - This is 2 and half minutes, which is not so long to wait and watch (though yes shouldn't have to wait at all) . I think these people are punished enough by the thread where their disconnections (as well as elements of their strategy/set up) are posted for all to see. I think the disconnectors are mostly angry with themselves mainly so it is not calculated like the other 4 things in the list .
*lottoing Marshals, shuffling and taking a long time to move are just things that are part of a player's approach to the game and are not legitimate things to complain about.
The reason i voted for a week ban (if there must be a ban) rather than a day , is that , when i look in the recently met section , the players who disconnected on me often haven't played a game since 2 or 3 days later , so if they got a day ban they would just come back 3 days later unaware they'd been banned at all. (they might get an email i suppose , but i don't think a valid email is even necessary to have an account)
Also , without wanting to make any proposal to deal with bad behaviour sound futile , while it is so easy to set up another account , is there any point in banning anyone for anything ?
Despite this critical sounding post i'd like to say the people who give up their time to deal with these issues - which is appreciated - should of course go forward and prioritize whatever they see fit (having taken on board other suggestions as they doubtless do ) so good luck with their project.
+1 to this. Its a bit annoying to wait the 2:30 for your win, but not the most egregious of offenses. I literally just played a game where this happened. It is unsporting, however there will always be unsporting behavior regardless. Jerks are just jerks. Whenever it happens to me I just end up laughing the whole 2 minutes about how obviously upset my opponent got over a game, or about whatever bad move they made that made them so upset.
