I remember when i was 7 years old playing beta 1.7 for the first time, oh the memories, no hunger bar and eating food would give you instant heath! aswell as no sprinting. I wish we could go back to these simple days of minecraft where the base of the game was still surrounded by the imagination and creativity of your own mind.
some reasons your server could be unpopular is because your not advertising your server correctly and you might not be putting your server on all the websites for promotion!
aswell as having people vote on your server post boosts your server up the rankings!