The GS4 Query protocol that minecraft uses is described here, and can be enabled with `enable-query=true` in server.properties.

In short, in full stat mode, the server sends an empty player list if `count(players) > 127`.

The exact bug is slightly more subtle. Excerpt from RemoteStatusListener.java:

            this.cachedReply.write("player_");
            this.cachedReply.write((int) 0);
            String[] astring = this.server.getPlayers();
            byte b0 = (byte) astring.length;

            for (byte b1 = (byte) (b0 - 1); b1 >= 0; --b1) {
                this.cachedReply.write(astring[b1]);
            }

            this.cachedReply.write((int) 0);

The byte cast causes the player list length variable to overflow, and as the loop counts backwards to zero, no players are sent when the count is 128-255. Beyond this the pattern repeats (i.e. with 300 players online, 44 would be listed), so the players list is only reliable for 127 players or fewer.

By contrast, the 'this.server.getPlayers()' method is implemented with an int counter in PlayerList.java:

        String[] astring = new String[this.players.size()];

        for (int i = 0; i < this.players.size(); ++i) {
            astring[i] = ((EntityPlayer) this.players.get(i)).getName();
        }

        return astring;

I also can't think of a reason for the player list to be reversed, as its stored in a largely non-useful order anyway.