I think it would be a good idea if we had a time limit between notification of a tournament and its starting date. Otherwise some tournaments will never go ahead especially the banded types. Something like two months is plenty of time for people to decide whether they want to join. If this matter has already been dicussed my apologies
A strange thing happened to me today. I received an email telling me the "Pale Yellow Star Tournament" had started! But it was addressed to my old username which hasn't been used for more than 2 years - so of course my opponent gets two painless and pointless game wins. An extreme example of what we're on about.