"I have this image of Max coming home from a long, hard day in the Real World"

The implication of the above statement is that Mudcat is NOT part of the real world. That is a mistake in either perception or logic, IMO.

We can argue that TV is not part of the real world, but we all know better. The internet is as real as are many other technologies that exist today. No more, no less. Calling a shhep a dog will not make it bark; but calling the internet interactions of real people 'not part of the real world' doesn't fly right with me.