I'm afraid I disagree with your post in its entirety. I'd much rather you not register than register knowing in advance that you're going to be late.
We're obviously not playing for big money, but I've never taken a position on anything in life where I didn't meet my obligations because there wasn't much on the line.
We can't control registration options (it's not a possibility within the software), so I have to be strict on people sitting out because it's extremely annoying and it ruins it for those who were responsible enough to show up. If this was 1 or 2 players per game none of us would mind, but when it's 80% of the field then something has to be done about it.
From this point onward, I will "suspend" any players sitting out for more than just the first few hands. Those players can then send me a private message if they'd like to be reinstated. I'll gladly do so, but it will be a one time thing, and the next action will be removal from the club.
I think that's a fair solution.
I'd much rather have 3 people register who are going to play than have 14 people register with 11 of them sitting out.