Without a doubt they have a very elaborate back end to the iflub website, with all kinds of tracking tools, spyware, keystroke logging, etc.  They probably have a master dashboard just for the private messages.....so that they aren't really private at all.

If people only knew, there would probably be a mass exodus out of there, but the truth of the matter is that the cost of building a sure enough competitor that would really put a dent in their profits is out of reach for 99.5% of the public, as it would take literally 1000's of manhours in coding and design to put a custom designed, no plug in, no 'out of the box' CMS type website on line.

That said, I know of one in the works.