As for addressing inactivity, I fully agree that RL should take precedent. However, all GMs have the ability to designate a co-GM. And it's not difficult to set a lineup days, if not weeks, in advance. At the very least, an email or post to the league board would go a long way to alleviating my concerns when suspecting a GM has gone inactive.
In Roy's case, I sent the email because I don't play favorites. Of course, I had no substantive fears that Roy had checked out of the league; I knew he'd, at the very least, let me know if he could no longer play.
My philosophy: the integrity and quality of play in any fantasy league suffers when even a single team's GM has gone inactive. It gives a team an easy win, week to week, and also removes players from the pool of possible trade targets for more active managers. And, of course, it begs the question of tanking, which all of us, I think, can agree is a detriment to the league.