When is population checking being run?
Yes, an anet intern is given coffee and 5 hour energy drinks every hour on the hour reset night and counts each of the tiny red dots on the screen.
Anet math.
ANet has metrics about everything in the game. They know how many play on which map at any given time. They just do not share that information with the general public. And honestly I don’t blame them for not sharing with the general public.
1 problem with them checking wvw population for a server is : pve’ers who just come into wvw for a few dailies Q_Q Ouch