Not Placed In World Sims, are they townies or npcs or npownies?

I wish I knew the answer, I have asked over and over again here on the forums and on Twitter. Nothing been confirmed about all of the Out Of World sims but I know a few of them are mailpersons, bartenders, maids, etc. Others may be families that have ages your sims need to interact with and every so often were culled from the game. Suppose to better now after the patch, so far none have been culled since I have last played.