Oops!

Well, er... What can I say other than sorry. I didn't mean to cause offense, if anything, it was meant to offset the growing (and misplaced - in my opinion) snobbery among Typepad users, to cement the sense of unity developing among us, and to identify that unity within ourselves and to the outside world as a whole. It was a statement of pride - nothing more. I whole-heartily apologise for 'upsetting the balance' and if my context was mis-construed.

I must say though that the level of comment has astounded me. If nothing else, we are an opinionated and passionate group. I guess that's why we were invited here to begin with.

Mena's elegant solution, (of a 'Typad user since... ) label is a perfect idea in my mind, and I look forward to my 'day-dot'/ 'initial run' badge of honour. In the meantime I'll adopt Authgeek's ammended button (with thanks).

UPDATE:
Eclecticism has another elegant stab at the problem here.
The result is the tpbeta button you see on my left sidebar.

I'm still extremely proud to be one of the 'chosen few' though, and will continue to be for the duration and beyond.

Now, what about that Beta testers maling list?