> Why don't people who donated to app.net at least get an account to use the service?

What do you mean? I paid the $50 and now I have an account.

There was an email a week or so ago talking about the launch of Alpha which said to let them know if you want to log in. I replied saying I backed them and would like to log in, and they set me up.

Maybe that was a one-off thing? In any case, it's pretty slick and I'm happy to be on it.