Whatever Happened to…..?

Are you a member of an Internet forum? If you are there’s a fairly high chance that the people posting today won’t be exactly the same as those posting when you first joined. Posters come and go but some stick in the mind for one reason or another (some good, some bad). We thought we’d take a trip down memory lane at some of the more memorable ones that have graced the Cage Forum over the years. If you’ve ever wondered “What ever happened to Julian?” then this is the article for you. Are you wondering Whatever Happened to…..? a former forum poster? If so leave a comment at the bottom of the page.

1. FIGHTYGIRL. We spent months convinced that Fightygirl was actually called Fightygirl LOL. She (at least we think she was a she you can never really tell with internet forums but that’s a whole different kettle of fish) seemed completely incapable of typing a whole sentence without adding something like LOL, PMSL or ROTFL. You had to hope that she didn’t do the same in real life or conversations could have got very long-winded indeed. 
2. IGOR. Bless him. A Sheffield fan so one-eyed that you can only assume that his Masther forgot to put the second one in when he created him in a workshop somewhere on Ilkley Moor. Whether the lightning that gave life to this modern Prometheus addled his brain we can’t say for sure as the trail of clues came to such an abrupt end.  
3. PANTHERMAN. Anyone who reads this should thank their lucky stars that it wasn’t Pantherman’s handiwork. It would be four pages long and contain so many long words that your head would start to spin. He made at lot of sense if you could hold your faculties together long enough to read through a posting. Sadly, few would ever come to realise this. He’s also the only person I’ve ever seen use the pusillanimous on a web page. 
4. GAZZA THE DEVIL. One of the more recently departed, Gazza was thought by many to be in the employ the Elite League. He was the ultimate Elite League apologist. His opinion never wavered for a second – if the Elite League were going to do something then it was right. Charge £100 per play-off game? Gazza would be the first in the queue with his fist full of tenners. Remove all contact from the sport? Gazza would be down the front with a pair of callipers making sure that there was at least a five centimetre gap between players at all time. A sanctimonious, know it all attitude also didn’t endear him to some posters! 
5. DOURDEN. Still listed as a Mod on the Cage but hasn’t posted for months. Made some waves when he became a mod, as he seemed to come down very hard on some really trivial matters. Is he now masquerading as Mr Orange on Steeltalk? We think we should be told! 
6. BJ. The man with the most unfortunate first name in British ice hockey. I’m not saying he thinks it’s bad but he’d rather be called BJ. BJ has been MIA for months now and the Cage isn’t the same without him. He knew his stuff did BJ unlike some on there. If you’re out there let us know. 
7. SCUFF. I may not have saved the worst until last but this is probably the strangest. Scuff is still out there. There are occasional sightings as his lifts his shiny pate above the parapets of his ivory tower every now and then but, it seems, Scuff is something of a changed man. Never short of an opinion he always seemed to relish the opportunity to stand his ground and debate the pros and cons of any argument. Now, well, now things are different. He still has an opinion on most things but that opinion is always the same – the exact opposite of the person he’s debating with, not that there’s much debate. These days you’re lucky if all you get is a simple “I’m right, you’re wrong, save your breath because you know nowt” style of reply obviously made to make you quake in the presence of such a hockey luminary whilst scurrying for the shelter of the rock you crawled out from. A shame really.