Oh, I was a little confused about 'defaulting at the deadline', but the mod has clarified it below. In that case, yes, I very much understand your view. I've been part of an exchange where I had to drop out before the deadline for defaults because I struggled with my assignment and I have to fulfil that assignment if I want to participate some other year. I'm not too fussed about that in the end, but I do find it a difficult rule to work with. I still think it would be easier for the penalty to be to write a treat rather than fulfil their original assignment (it would be less discouraging imo), but I'd definitely have no objections to the latter if that's what the mods choose to go with.