> a few people knew this already ( I suspected it as well) and never said anything.

No need to suspect anything as it has been officially known and discussed right from the start. It's inherent to how the registration system works, i.e. (1) apply for a keyfile -> (2) get the number -> (3) don't make the payment -> (4) result: number occupied without keyfile being issued.

> The good news is there are many morphos users who never post here and dont even
> have accounts!

What has that to do with the amount of registration numbers? It doesn't matter one bit that there are people not posting their number here as long as any member with a later number posts here afterwards. You make it sound like the registration system would only assign numbers to keyfiles given to MorphZone members.