See, that's why I included the bit about occasionally "in place of a name". I do use the word "mate", I type it less, and generally only in private correspondence and not in public.
But I don't go "mate night86mare", "mate Sion", and "mate allenleonhart". On the other hand, I have seen threads with "bro night86mare", "bro Sion" and "bro allenleonhart"... makes me want to register the nick "bro" just to see how that'll turn out.
And erm, I'm posting this totally in a non-official capacity
hmm... for night86mare & sion, mating season have just begun... :bsmilie: