Changes in the Neighborhood?

[RainbowMaster57]

Before I went on vacation for 3 weeks, I could find all my neighbors under Province Overview - Neighbors. This was a convenient way to do the daily Neighborly Help. Just before I left I noticed the number of neighbors listed was down by 2 ... they were deleted accounts. I could find them on the map and click to receive my bonus. Now - after being gone for 3 weeks and back for 2, I find that there are 15 of these.
Can someone explain what's going on in my neighborhood?

 

[Henroo]

@RainbowMaster57 There is an automatic movement program Elvenar uses. It works kind of slow, but over time it is designed to cluster active cities in the center of the map. Inactive cities are sent to the outside perimeter of the world map. Furthermore, low level inactive cities are outright deleted. It sounds like you might be on the edge of the map. And your active neighbors are being moved away to better positions. Which is good for them, but not so good for you. To check this, scroll around your world map. If I am right, there should be lots of gold mines in the place of where your neighbor's cities once were. Also, if you remember the name of any of your missing neighbors you can search for them and see if their cities still exist on a different part of the map.