Thanks a lot for observing.
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As for how many members are actually active or whether the number is fictitious or whether "everyone is having fake ids" the short answer is "The site's primary objective has NEVER been to expand the membership base."
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objective from Day 1 has been to provide a somewhat satisfactory service to whomever finds their way into the site, whether 100 or 900 or 9 lakh. IRI remains one of the VERY FEW sites on the internet that NEVER SOLICITS by email, or aggressively and intrusively expands membership virally through your Facebook friends or your GMail Contact List. For this reason, the membership figures actually remain minuscule compared to most other internet sites.
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In fact, most of our visitors use the site very well WITH NO MEMBERSHIP - membership is not compulsory. As most of our current members and Admins will attest, they were already long-time visitors of IRI before deciding to become members. This remains true of most new members. New members are usually not first-time visitors of IRI, but in fact, are already familiar with the site as visitors.
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People visit IRI as non-members, first occasionally, then more frequently, for many months before finally settling to take up membership. People DO NOT become members on their first or second or third visit. This ORGANIC growth ENSURES that those who do decide to become members are bonafide rail enthusiasts.
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So once again, IRI remains true to its goal of remaining a small, niche site catering to the tiny railfan subset of the internet. Rather than membership growth, we are primarily interested in enriching the site with more and more features to better serve our longtime and loyal members and Admins.
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Thanks.