First, what is my award for rendering PhiGam speechless?
I'm not sure if the "real pledgeship" remark is addressed to me - but what do you know of northern chapter's pledgeships? Rumor, hearsay? You've already said you don't mix with northern chapters, so I'm curious as to where you are getting the information which informs your opinion of these northern (perhaps western, too) chapters.
Shouldn't pledgeship be the same for all chapters - I believe HQs certainly strive for a certain uniformity in their programming. Admittedly, my experience with fraternity pledgeship is only being married to the president of a local as became a colony and then a chapter of Sigma Chi - so HQ ran the program.
So - please define your terms. What constitutes a "real pledgeship", and on what do you base your belief that only southern fraternity chapters have it?