This is a great point, and it's something I've wondered about for a long time. I am a regular forum visitor and I usually find out about new events posted here. But I've noticed that I have a number of neighbors who will not start an event for days and that's usually when the forced update hits. I have always been curious if they've managed to catch up in the first round or not.
For this particular go-round, I happened to be in Italy on vacation when the update hit. I was only able to access my game where I had wifi, and in my particular hotel the free wifi was taxed to the limit, so I did end up paying about 135 donuts for the final prize because of the inability to play. However, I think I did start late, comparatively speaking, not only because of my inability to freely access the game, but also because I was not able to check the forums. In addition, I was only notified of the update through the Google Play Store, NOT through the game itself.
It is frustrating that there is not an IMMEDIATE notification when an update hits through the game. I've never been able to understand the three-day wait before a forced update. Tell everyone immediately!