That wasn't exactly the point I was making. Yours is, of course, right: the trolls and attention seekers run amok (just as some people behave really badly offline) but the www allows them a cloak of anonymity they wouldn't otherwise have. (In which case, there's a further argument for saying it's more reflective of social life, because all the filters supposedly making them behave as decent, civilized human beings have been removed). And that's without even getting started on the MRAs and fetishists who are swarming this site as I write.
My observation is more about the attitude which says: the collective membership of MN are all weirdos (except me, of course) who say things no one IRL would ever dream of saying.
Whereas, in fact, they are boring, normal, everyday folk like you and me, who just happen to come from different age demographics and different socio-economic backgrounds, and don't necessarily get hung up over people not answering their doors in their own homes or shouting down every moderate, reasonable concern over women's rights as 'transphobic'.
Okay so I'm not an MRA or a creative writer testing out my fantasy stories on unsuspecting strangers, but that aside, I'm always suspicious of the 'I'm soooo different from them' rhetoric. Interestingly enough, this is also a protestation that's usually false.