Well, here's my thoughts on the whole deal:

1) When we started out handing custom titles "prematurely", it seemed like a fair thing to give ones to users who have been here a long time and are important contributors. However, what we didn't realise is that actually most posters active these days are ones who've been here for half a dozen years, so by that logic a large number of users would actually deserve a custom title... which, at least in my opinion would pretty much make the whole point of the "special award" of a custom title moot.

As a result of the above, there was a conversation on this subject in the Mods forum on 18/08/06 between myself, EJ and Ohro where we decided that no more custom titles would be handed out prematurely.

2) As the first user to actually get a custom title after making 5000 posts (and actually the person who opened this whole can of worms by suggesting people with over 5000 posts should get a custom title to start with), I do think people shouldn't get custom titles if they've made less than 5000 posts. No matter how good or valued posters they are. The titles have absolutely no relevance to quality, only quantity (I mean, me and Claude were the first people to pass the limit and we both have spent most of our time in TW posting crap). You should be proud of having title that gives away you have made a relatively small number of posts.

Q: What's the difference between Michael Jackson and a plastic bag?
A: One is made of plastic and is dangerous to kids, while the other is used to carry your groceries home.