NewLiberty:
High retention on a server does not necessarily equate with high popularity. Many of these servers that have high population and high retention are designing themselves to cater to a very large number of players. The method for doing this is allowing anything and everything on a server. Except for outright hacking the server, many of these servers allow anything and everything, including griefing.
For instance, the server that I help administrate caters to long-term good players. Although new players would find the server i admin initially restrictive, it is designed to supply a exquisite experience in that we can guarantee little to no griefing, and swift punishment for those who do grief.
