I always wondered if the big clubs of 100 and 250 thought they were better than the smaller clubs with only 15 or 30. Interesting.
My club is smaller by design, and I (we) intend to keep it that way for the foreseeable future. In another 6 months to a year - who knows, maybe we'll up it, but I (we) intended on having no more than 36 members for the "season" we're currently running. Maybe next season we'll bump it to 42. I could open the floodgates, but member count doesn't mean as much to us as it seems to for some. Plus, smaller clubs can offer things that bigger clubs can't. So there.
What you'll find within the walls of my club are very active and dedicated players, a real solid community, some top notch talent, and many that are on their way to greatness. I suppose we're measuring our success using a different scale, but I sincerely doubt a larger club could poach my guys with the lure of a more spacious courtyard.
But I digress back to the original topic.
I find it to be an odd phenomenon that someone would join a club and then just not take part in what the club is doing. Granted, people get busy, go on vacation, etc... but there's a huge difference between missing a couple tourneys and being a ghost.
Not all clubs are the same, so it's pretty important to find the right one for you. Test the waters. If you find it's not what you're looking for, move on. I believe that's acceptable. Try another, try 2 more, or decide that being in a club at all isn't right for you.
Owners and other active members of a club should be able to convey to a new member what the expectations are fairly soon. Some may not know exactly what they should be doing.
It should be a given though, that the main objective is to participate in the club!! What are you there for if you don't participate!! Dammit, go play your club's tourneys right now and get off the main forum, slackers!!!
PS, I know of several other high quality clubs with membership at 50 or under, so don't let that be the end-all basis of your judgement.