if the server is setup like that then u dont have an option to set more ppl in it than are there ....... but most likely this isnt the case ..... its probably the way u have ur listchans setup simply type /list and see if ur room(s) show up in that list ..... if it does then u need to reset the minimum number of ppl in the field for the list chans dioalog box ...... simply put it to 0 as the minimum if that isnt it well then i dont know of a command that can falsly report the number of ppl in any channel on any network ... i dont think thats is a thing that is possible
Looking at it from another aspect some IRCd's have the ability to show only rooms with a usercount over a certain level, a function set by the opers/admins. If the previous suggestion doesn't work for you then this might be the case.