I'm not convinced that the figures you see are an accurate representation of reality.
Clarion, for instance, is listed as the most prolific poster.
He hasn't been online in four years.
I don't know. He did post an awful lot when he was active.
Not enough to be in that position now.
You'd be surprised - I had a truffle through the profile pages of the top 3 ranked by post count and topics started, and...
The stats say clarion made 62,305 posts, but his
profile actually counts 71,630.
The stats say Kim made 57,083 posts, but her
profile actually counts 63,701*.
The stats say Wowbagger made 47,143 posts, but his
profile actually counts 62,982*.
The stats page may be talking through its hoop WRT the number of posts, the ranking would appear to be correct. Oddly enough, it goes the other way WRT topics started:
The stats say rogerzilla started 3,919 topics, but his
profile actually counts 3,342.
The stats say Wowbagger started 3,091 topics, but his
profile actually counts 3,056.
The stats say Jaded started 1,975 topics, but his
profile actually counts 1,542.
(In case anyone hasn't worked it out by now, you'll need to be logged in to view the above links)A quick look suggests that Top 10 topics by replies and views are accurate. However, I haven't a clue what the Top 10 boards ranking is using as a metric because it sure isn't topics per board. For example, the P&OBI index has 108 pages, implying 5,350-5,400 topics, while On The Road, which is ranked above P&OBI (note that the Vroom sub-board is counted separately) has 84 pages, implying 4,150-4,200 topics.
*
Post count at time of drafting this post, so it may well have gone up by the time I clicked "Post".