Should absent players be removed from a tournament?

[Everest Poker]

Hi Everyone,

We wanted to get your opinion on an MTT policy of ours. Currently at Everest Poker, if a player does not show up for an MTT (ie he is not logged in when the tournament starts), he is removed after 5 minutes (in a freeroll) or after 15 minutes (any real money tournament).

Our question is, should we be removing absent players at all? The key question seems to be if 'present' players seated at a table with absent players are at an advantage or disadvantage compared to those playing w/o absent players.

We would be interested in getting your opinion.


PS: if the mods feel this is inappropriate, please move or delete, apologies in advance.