>... I object to the fast and loose way that 300,000 people are turned into 300,000 organic farmers. They do the same thing with organic beekeepers. The organic beekeeping website may have thousands of subscribers, but there is no way even half of them have bees, nor do very many of them even agree on what organic beekeeping is or should be.

For all I know, I am one (or maybe two or three) of those thousands, and I'm betting you are, too.  ('You' meaning anyone reading this who has looked around at various BBBs and lists).

I have signed up with various lists and websites at various times over the years just to read or to get access to the full site, or reach files -- and perhaps occasionally to participate once or twice.  

Although I may be counted as a member of various bee sites, I seldom or never return there and have even misplaced my credentials.  That means If I visited twice, I probably signed up again -- and I probably signed up again a third time if years lapsed between visits.  

As far as I know, many sites and lists do not trim their lists periodically and just report the total accumulated over years or even decades.

BEE-L in the past trimmed the list annually and currently unsubscribes members after a few email bounces to eliminate non-responsive members.  That keeps the reported number close to actual recipients of the messages, however, those reading BEE-L on the web or by RSS are not counted unless they bother to register and registering is not necessary except to post, and as we know the vast majority of BEE-L readers and members never post. 
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