I think the main vibe is that 1337 is for wannabe pro's ( mostly )
So 1 in a hundred 1337 users actually have the skill to back up the symbolic
statement of pro-ness.
I allways thought it looked just weird and not really special :P.
But neither do I care for it as much, you should not care to much of
what people think, after all, it is just 1,1 in your name.