I definitely think there were stumbling blocks when the program started. I also think that the program made people think twice about taking $100 for posting on some board. They had to look within themselves and decide if being seen as a an IRP professional was what they wanted. Imo, many people realized that they weren't going to make a career out of this and just wanted to trade/invest. So, they got out of the program.
What I think we see a lot of now in the IRP program are people who have chosen this line of work as their career.