We can't see the image I've also noticed on TOPG.org that EMC is registered as 1.9.x. Might be so that they can show a message to 1.9 players that they need to downgrade, and voting sites consider this as a 1.9 server EDIT: Proof
Some of the admins that I have worked with on other sites were able to make 1.8.x be able to connect to the server while it was still running 1.7.10.. Although none of the 1.8.x items were useable in the 1.7.10 settings. They had it setup so people whom had updated could still play without the hassle of setting up a secondary profile and/or downgrading.. Although I do not think that Aikar has done that here.. :\
I asked him about it, I believe he said something about it being unstable. Seemed fine to me on other servers.