Relax. No one should tell you to go away.
Yes, it's common for certain people to stay in the Lounge for hours at a time without playing.
The "busy" or "away" problem is more curious. I haven't seen that many AFK at any given time myself, but yes, it can happen.
If you want to find out who might be active (it won't help with the busy/away-ness), you can use this link:
http://www.enworld.org/isrp/chat/index.php
Up at the top right is a link to "who's in the chat?" that will list users by rooms without you needing to log in first.