Brian1971, pauloaguia: I put a post on the Stairs board about the same thing.
I am sure Fencer could write a script that would automatically check all steps and send you a message of available challenges for you(maybe once a week). If you have not made any challenges(after another week) it could either drop you a step, start retiring you or remove from the stairs.
It should only do this if there are players for you to challenge, if not leave you on the step you are on as it is not your fault.