Since admin until now has never deleted members who have never posted, it will pretty much invalidate this entire contest.
When registering, your password is sent to your email address. If you mistyped or used a bogus email, your password will never get to you, thus you can never post. Unless admin intervenes, that username is in limbo forever.
Some people like to register their handle in every forum they can just to stake their claim, even if they never plan to post there. Banned members can register with profane names just so it appears on the forum summary and they can get they petty revenge. Novice users often use an incorrect email address, only to register multiple times before they get it right. Some lame people just register and then forget all about the site and simply never come back.
Since anyone can register as many times as they want with bogus emails, the totals can get padded quickly. A couple people can add over a hundred bogus members in an hour with a minimal effort. A few losers with a free weekend can jack it up significantly!
The only way to prevent bogus registrations is to ask admin to remove them.
In my own admin duties, I remove any members who haven't made their first post a month after registering. Once they post once, I know they are a valid user and they are in for life.
There are probably hundreds of bogus members now. If admin were to remove them, it might seriously change the growth curve and I'm sure everyone would change their guess!
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