I really wanted to become a "badged" member of the Magna Carta Project. If you look at my home page, you will see I have listed many American Gateway ancestors and since I have extensive royal and noble lineages, I believe additional research is likely to reveal there may be even more. Consequently, I was looking forward to becoming a guardian. However, the more I read about the requirements for "badged" membership as compared to an affiliate, I was discouraged from seeking "badged" membership and I decided I would prefer to become an "official affiliate". I spent a lot of time reading about this project and I couldn't help but feel that I may have wasted some time. I just hope this doesn't discourage others like me from seeking "badged" membership because I felt I would have been a prolific and pedantic "badged" member. Have you received communication from other potential members who also had a similar reaction? Notwithstanding my decision, I still hope through becoming an official "affiliate", I may learn a lot about this project. As such, I look forward to the acceptance of my application to join the Google group. Who knows? Maybe, later I will change my mind about seeking "badged" membership, but for now I hope my affiliation will suffice. Thanks.