My opinion of these questions:
1) yes new people come to cf now though lots of different paths. Also you have a lot of veterans who play comeback chars like I haven't played in a while but I just watched Conan the barbarian and now I wanna roll a villager...

2) they come from banners... yes, but also from word of mouth, or myspace where someone lists under hobbies CF... who knows where they all come from personally I came because a friend of mine said this is the most addictive shiv ever. I was playing Journey to Exile at the time and was wondering what the heck is going on if there are no pictures? I have to say though that once a person gives CF a chance they are sure to like it.

3)Cf is the difference between MD 20/20 and Grey Goose... Other muds may have more people but they are there for several other reasons. Cf is strictly RP mud and since it is often times #3 or #4 on the mud list I would say that it is by far the best as far as RP strictly enforced mud out there. I know many people who have been playing cf for years and years... myself included with some breaks here and there. So if a person likes one of the ultimate in depth rp muds on the net they will stick around because the imms do a great job of both enforcement and reward for those who are good or bad examples for the mud.