Does anyone remember Handbag.com

[onedayinthefuture]

It was probably early to mid 2000s? It was an online women's magazine site but most people used the forums? It was such a busy place, much like mumsnet with a variety of discussions. I used to love the personalised avatars (which helped recognise posters straight away) and enjoyed whiling away the hours at work on there even making some friends. This was all before social media so was my go to. Not sure why it died a death, it went from being a thriving women's chat site to being completely dead and now long gone. I wonder if there are any old handbaggers on here? ;)

I vaguely remember handbag but my main forum used to be Cosmopolitan. No idea where it went to though! I often wonder how many of the users are now on here 10+ years later

Gecko was awfullot of really really nasty. Although I wouldn't wish him dead, I must admit forumville was much better after.

See I never believed that story about 7 researchers. I still think it was just one troll.

Just going back to earlier, yes I remember the doggy wheelchair very well. I wonder if she posts on MN? I also sometimes see posts on here that remind me of a very prominent bagger who hasn't been mentioned yet. But I reckon she'd love the publicity so I ain't gonna name her.

And there was also the pastel-aid fundraiser saga.

Of course it was shit! Like anyone would believe it! But that was her last bit of nonsense.

@TellingBone

See I never believed that story about 7 researchers. I still think it was just one troll.

Just going back to earlier, yes I remember the doggy wheelchair very well. I wonder if she posts on MN? I also sometimes see posts on here that remind me of a very prominent bagger who hasn't been mentioned yet. But I reckon she'd love the publicity so I ain't gonna name her.

And there was also the pastel-aid fundraiser saga.

Ah I’m glad you remembered! I thought I’d made it up then lol. I spent ages defending her when she was being attacked on handbag only for that shit to play out on Damsels. I was really shocked.

I bet the boards are all cached somewhere and we could go back and have a read if we wanted to.

A few screenshots of the boards on the wayback machine:

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060305031009/forums.handbag.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20060305031009/forums.handbag.com/

Gecko, wow that’s a blast from the past. What happened?

I believe there was a motorbike accident Paddingtonthebear

Oh that’s sad

I remember the coroner thing !! She was horrendous

I was on Handbag, although only an addicted lurker, much as I am on Mumsnet. I definitely remember Caramel X, Looney Pumpkin, Ananas and Spidey’s mobile avatar.

Hong Kong Bag Lady was Fiona; a really lovely lady and so professional for a pirate! We all had her make BV knock-offs and they were indistinguishable from the real thing. I wish I’d kept her details. There was also a craze for a particular fake Fendi bag from an Ebayer someone had found.

@TellingBone I've remembered my username thank you! TJM but I don't remember having sidekicks! I wasn't in there for that long and then there were the other forums and it was too distracting for work. I met a few at a meet and we stayed friends but what struck me was how different everyone was IRL. People who were quiet online were great fun, space cowboy was actually a nice guy. There were a few weirdos and the thief (can't remember her bag name but know her real one) seemed so nice in person it was a bit of a shock. But I don't remember a lot of it though I do remember your user name northern lass!

Shellyshoe.., I think I remember her and not in a good way.

Diogenes was one name I remember I think. Tosser. And there was an Indian guy who was an early incel moaning on sbout no woman wanting him.

I missed both wheelchair and coroner scandals! Sadly.

And there was an Indian guy who was an early incel moaning on sbout no woman wanting him.

Ashok.

Haha TJM! One of your 'sidekicks' was named 'cookie' I think. These were people who always used to post just after you posted or on threads you started just to agree with you.

Just remembered someone mentioned Punkgirl earlier. I think she had a little girl and the father tragically died in a mountaineering accident. Gosh I remember all the tragic stuff it seems.

Oh good Ashok. And funky monkey.

*oh GOD Ashok, that should read.

I was on Handbag and Damsels and remember quite a lot of the usernames being mentioned. Happy Days 😁

I joined the wedding forums so I could moan about MIL and ending up having a more complex out-of-town wedding than I would have preferred!

Still in touch with a bunch of them online - some are close IRL as well.

I do sometimes wonder what happened to the poor poster whose fiance sent his mum over about 6 weeks before the wedding to tell her the marriage was off (yes - he was too much of a coward to say himself) and a few months later had shacked up with another woman who was expecting his baby

@Asterion

And there was an Indian guy who was an early incel moaning on sbout no woman wanting him.

Ashok.

Oh god he was a prototype incel before those forums even existed.

Does anyone remember the girl on handbag who was a massive Pete Doherty fan

Oh my, Handbag and HD and TMT.

I remember being quite caught up in the outing of Shellieshoes back in the day. I also ended up on a night out with Blaise (Modesty) in a non internet related group. He was the boyfriend of a friend's sister and I awkwardly clicked half way through the evening who he was. He absolutely hated me on the boards and had written some unkind things about me in the secret mod forum. I can't imagine that evening ended well, but I seemed to have blanked out what happened next

Ashok! 😁😁😁

Would you believe tellingbonebi had absolutely nothing to do with those posters posting after me. I don't think I even met cookie (night have) and there was absolutely no coordination at all! Pure confidence. But then I was opinionated AF so maybe that's what they liked. Obviously completely changed now! 😂

God, Blossie was full of herself. Wasn't she a TV anchor, or something?

The modding on Handbag was badly handled. Dazzling was a mod, all nice to people's faces but behind the scenes...

Blaise was just fucking weird.

Do you remember GoGoMamaToday.com, that they tried to start. Laughable.

On the fashion board I remember someone committed fraud at work(or similar).

I remember geek kitten, she was really quirky.