I would agree with you IF that info had been known. The order was placed on the 19th before Apple changed the ship date on the site to 7 May. It was only that afternoon after getting a second email from Apple that a ship date of 7 May appeared.
If that had been clearly stated when I was ordering or they had said that any order placed at that point would not be a preorder but would be in the next wave of shipments, then I would have fully understood and agreed that I was too late to the game or common sense on missing the boat.
But no where did Apple say that the 3g production was sold out and only did that info come out later after my order was placed. So as far as I, and anyone else placing an order at that moment, knew there were no delays, production had not sold out, and it was still a PRE order.