"...a step or two above the absolute dregs."

By attempting to identify the true 'nerdiest', as people distinct from present company, you've fed into the very same stigmatizing separate-and-point primary-school behavior highlighted by the original article.

The willingness of those excluded to try to redirect the labels/taunts/stigma to someone else of even lower status helps keep the whole sordid enterprise going.

I trust that wasn't your conscious intent, but it can just as easily be a reflex. "At least we're a step or two above those people."