Another "bored at work thread", title says it all. Skip over this if you're looking for actual information =P

Is it the leader's responsibility to replace party members who have to go? In my experience, people used to find their own replacements, but as of late, everyone seems to place this responsibility on me (I usually make my own parties).

Last weekend I was partying on my NIN, and the WHM said he had to go. I asked if he could find himself a rep, because it's kind of hard to tank and spam search without the quality of my tanking suffering a bit. Ten minutes later, he says he can't find a replacement and leaves. One second later, I do a quick /sea and I find 2 WHM seeking in our level range (granted, they could have popped right after he left).

What do you think?

I think the leader should try his utmost hardest to find a replacement, but the person leaving should at least search for a replacement as well. But since it's the leader who will ultimately invite the replacement, I'd think it natural for the leader to lead to search for a replacement.

It's the leader's job to manage the party but it is common decency for the players to find a rep. In your case, the person who is least effected should do the searching, even if its another party member. Being a main healer in a lagfest, sometimes its hard to /tell and cure in a high damage receiving party.

Chances are ,those two WHMs didn't just spawn and that guy was just too lazy and inconsiderate to find a rep. I've done searches right after someone fake d/cs and saw a ton load of DDs seeking to rep. To me, it didn't make any sense.

In my opinion the leader should find a replacement for a leaving party member mainly because it is the leader that knows what type of party he/she wants. Not all jobs are as easy to replace as WHM -> WHM. There are over a dozen different DDs, for example, and they all bring different aspects to a party.

However, two things come to mind here:

Ten minutes notice is not an acceptable time frame for either the party leader or the member leaving to find a replacement in most situations.
He asked you, which is the right thing to do, and you said for him to find a replacement.

Since in this situation you specified to the member that he/she should find a replacement, that is the obvious answer. I think in general though that it is poor form to assume the party leader wants you to replace yourself as it limits the options for the party.